Phil Steele recently finished his 2009 Preseason Top 40 Ranking and Steele’s preseason rankings are always interesting to take a look at, because he usually hits on few teams that end up surprising everyone during the season.Looking over Steele’s preseason ranking below, some of the things that jump out at us here at Coaches Hot Seat are:
Notre Dame at No. 7 – Certainly with the resources that Notre Dame has at its disposal it should be ranked in the Preseason Top 10 every year, but we cannot understand how a guy in Charlie Weis that has put up a 29-21 (.580) record in 4 years, is suddenly going to field one of the best teams in the country.Of course, if Weis isn’t in the Top 10 by the end of the year, there will be a new head coach in South Bend come December.
Boise State at No. 12 – Boise State looks to have a very good team coming back and they will have a very good chance of running the table again, but since we have a Politburo running college football (with the support of the WAC commissioner) the Broncos will no have a chance to play for the National Title.Is that un-American?How any American could possibly support the current system is beyond us, so yes the BCS is un-American as anything in our country today.
BYU at No. 15 – BYU is stockpiling talent under Bronco Mendenhall and they should be better this season than in ’08, but that Mountain West conference is becoming a very tough neighborhood to live in.
Miami at No. 21 – Maybe Randy Shannon can get some of that talent he has recruited to Miami playing a higher level of football, but those youngsters will have to grow up quick to end up in the Top 25 by the end of the year.
UCLA at No. 24 – Can Rick Neuheisel, Norm Chow and Company get things turned around in year 2 in Westwood?If they can with the amount of talent they have on campus, then they are much better men than us!
The rest of Steele’s Preseason Rankings could be mixed up in almost any way and we would think they were plausible, but still it is always fascinating to see what Phil Steele is thinking and to read all the information that he packs into the profile on each team (which you can see by hitting the .pdf link to the right of the team in the below table).
“Don’t forget about the song We Are The World where Jackson put together all of those singers to raise money for famine in Africa.Only Michael Jackson, with Quincy Jones producing, could have put together that group of great singers, and big egos, and not only get the song done, but have it turn out so well.”
How easy it is for us to forget things that have happened in our lives, but the mention of We are the World brought back a lot of memories of the 1980s when Michael Jackson was of course at the zenith of his popularity.Watching the below video of We are the World brings back so many memories of the great music that was sung and produced in the last 40 years and we can only wonder where would we find singers like these men and women today if we had to use today’s singers.Answer:There are no singers that can touch this group on the pop/music charts today and that says a lot for how pitiful American music is today.With all of that in mind, here is:
As the quality college head coaching job openings dwindled in December 2007 one can only wonder what was running through Bobby Petrino’s mind as he was sitting in Atlanta, Georgia as the head coach of the Falcons and if he was wondering that if he resigned from his NFL job at the end of the ’07-’08 season, if he would be able to get back in the game after taking a year off. With Arkansas already having been turned down by Tommy Bowden and then circling a few top assistant coaches to replace Houston Nutt, it must have been quite a shock when the call came through from Petrino’s agent to say that Bobby was interested in the Razorback job. If we had been sitting in the AD’s seat at Arkansas that call from Petrino’s agent would have gotten our attention as well and even though it cost everyone involved, Petrino, the Falcons, Arthur Blank, Arkansas football, and a few others a lot of pain, Bobby Petrino returning to the college game was the best for everyone. The only problem for Bobby Petrino was that he landed at a school in Arkansas that is now sitting in not only the toughest conference in college football, but the toughest conference division as well. Nick Saban at Alabama, Les Miles at LSU, Houston Nutt at Ole Miss, Dan Mullen at Mississippi State and now Gene Chizik at Auburn adds up to a neighborhood that is going to be a bear to hang around for the foreseeable future and the challenge that Petrino is now facing is easily the greatest of his coaching career. Even though Petrino struggled in his first year at Arkansas, we are still convinced at Coaches Hot Seat that Petrino is one of the best 3 or 4 head coaches in the college game under the age of 50 and that belief will be tested in the coming years, because only a very good coach will be able to hang around for very long in the SEC. Petrino is a lot like Steve Spurrier in that he only needs two or three things to put up winning and even championship seasons, but if he (and Spurrier) do not have one of those things then they both will struggle mightily. Petrino needs a top-notch QB that can make all the throws that are involved in the offense and a QB that can take the verbal thrashing that comes with playing QB for Bobby (just like Spurrier). Petrino needs an adequate, but not great defense that can keep his offense off the field long enough to rest up so that when the offense does get back on the field it is refreshed enough to execute an offense that includes lots of vertical passing (receivers running serious routes on every play) and a bruising between the tackles running game that needs very good blocking. Lastly, Petrino needs an above average punter, because there will be plenty of times that the Petrino offense will go three-and-out when the offense is not clicking and a punter that can keep a team pinned on the other side of the field and deep in their own territory will give the defense a chance to make its plays and the offense a chance to regroup and come back out throwing the ball all over the field.
To summarize, what Bobby Petrino needs to win games and championships:
1. A strong and accurate thrower of the ball at QB that is strong mentally as well (Petrino should have that QB in 2009 in Ryan Mallett).
2. An adequate defense that can keep the team in the game when the offense is not clicking (Petrino should have that in 2009).
3. An above average punter that can help the defense and give the offense the time to regroup. (With a junior college punter coming this fall the punting duties may fall to QB Ryan Mallet, who was a great punter in high school. Iffy on the punter right now.)
Coaches Hot Seat Bottom Line
We predict that Bobby Petrino and Arkansas will have a _________ record in 2009.
The BCS President’s Committee denies Mountain West’s proposal – No surprise, because these President’s are along with the BCS Boys some of the Greatest Discriminators in the United States of America today
Yes, the President’s on this committee along with the BCS Boys are now part of the long list of Great Discriminators in the history of the United States of America!How proud they must be, that they believe that one group of Americans are somehow better than another group of Americans, and that the student-athletes on the “non-BCS” teams should be treated like second-class citizens.What is really ironic about the college President’s position is that these folks are some of the politically-correct asses on the planet who go out of their way in their normal routines to bend over backwards for anything that is considered to be “PC.”All of us here at Coaches Hot Seat know at least one college President and although there are a number of them out there that know how to run their institutions, the “politically-correct” bullshit that they pull on a constant basis never really surprises anymore, because most college presidents are so far removed from the life of the average American that they haven’t a clue to what is really going on in our country.
David Frohnmayer, the President of the University of Oregon and the Chairman of this BCS President’s Committee is the lead Great Discriminator because he made it very clear in his statement earlier this week that come hell or high water he and the other presidents are going to continue to discriminate against a group of Americans, and anyone that dare question his highness Frohnmayer can go take a flying leap.We have something to say to David Frohnmayer:
You are a Pompous Ass and you and the other Presidents on this BCS Committee are openly, blatantly, and in our opinion, illegally discriminating against a group of Americans and it will take the Federal government to put all of you sorry asses in your places.
That’s right David Frohnmayer; you are a Pompous Ass and an embarrassment to the United States of America.Any American that believes one group of Americans are not as good as another group of Americans is a Discriminator and that Discrimination will not be allowed to stand.Yes, David Frohnmayer you are a disgrace and you and the rest of the BCS Boys can take your un-American BCS bullshit and go to Hell.
Let’s see the name of the BCS Presidential Oversight Committee who now join former Alabama Governor George Wallace as Great Discriminators against Americans and are clearly embarrassments to the United States of America.
Presidential Oversight Committee David Frohnmayer – President, University of Oregon
Rev. John Jenkins – President, University of Notre Dame
Mark A. Nordenberg – President, University of Pittsburgh
John G. Peters – President, Northern Illinois University
Harvey Perlman – Chancellor, University of Nebraska-Lincoln
Graham Spanier – President, The Pennsylvania State University
Charles W. Steger – President, Virginia Tech University
Here is who you stand with Presidents….
How proud all of you must be!
David Frohnmayer in the press release on MWC proposal to alter the BCS said:
“There was frank and respectful discussion among the Presidential Oversight Committee members,” David Frohnmayer, University of Oregon President and BCS Presidential Oversight Committee Chairman, said in a statement. “These presidents and chancellors are dedicated to their universities, and also to the sport of college football. They want to do what’s best for the game.
“There was no overall support for the proposal, although some conferences were interested in considering certain elements of it in the future — particularly those related to revenue, access and governance of the BCS arrangement. As I have stated many times, the group will give full and due consideration to proposals submitted by the conferences. Each conference is encouraged to suggest ideas for improvement.”
We have got some news for you Pompous Ass Frohnmayer; it is not going to be your decision, the other Presidents decision or the BCS Boys decision on to continue the BCS or not.The BCS in our opinion violates US law and the decision is going to end up being, do the college presidents want to continue receiving US federal aid, or do they want to implement a fair and legal system in the college football postseason to replace the BCS.That is going to be the decision, and the college presidents and the BCS Boys are going to be removed from “the door” they are now standing in and college football will have a playoff to crown its National Champion.
Of that Frohnmayer, you can count on.Of course, Frohnmayer is from a long list of people that work for the public but believe they can tell the public what they do and do not want.It is only natural for Pompous Ass like Frohnmayer to believe he is the great arbitrator on what the American people should believe (as you will see below).Not in this case Frohnmayer, because we are going to have a playoff in college football to crown the National Champion and no amount of college presidents getting together to talk about what “they want” is going to change that fact.
US Senator Orrin Hatch said this week that the “BCS violates U.S. antitrust laws
“The University of Utah was the only undefeated team last year, and they didn’t have a chance in the world of competing for the national title, and then they get there and defeat one of the teams that was No. 1 for most of the year. They killed them.”
Of course, Pompous Ass David Frohnmayer is also quoted in the article:
“Tinkering legislatively with a football playoff system as a national priority is a huge waste of my taxpayer dollars,” said University of Oregon president David Frohnmayer, the chairman of the BCS Presidential Oversight Committee. “I think taxpayers would look at it in real anger. To tinker around because you don’t like the outcome of a football season is a classic misuse of priorities.”
Pompous Ass Frohnmayer, that is almost the exact argument that was used by Alabama Governor George Wallace to deny black Americans admission to the University of Alabama.Frohnmayer seems to be more than willing to discriminate against Americans with the BCS, because he like Wallace is not on the side that is getting gored, which really drives home the point that David Frohnmayer with his, and his fellow Presidents incredibly Discriminatory policy towards treating a group of Americans as second-class citizens is an embarrassment to the ideals and principles of the United States of America.
Of course, what makes this entire debate really sad, because not only do the BCS Boys and the Frohnmayer’s of the world want to deny an entire group of student-athletes the opportunity to play for the National Championship in football, even though every other student-athlete in college today has that chance, but these Bastards really want to keep the “non-BCS” schools out because of $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$!
Yes, that is what this is about, $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$, and to that all we can say all of you BCS Boys and the Frohnmayer’s of the world can go to Hell, because we believe all of you are an embarrassment to our country.
“We basically have a system for college football that too closely resembles the old Soviet Presidium,” Calhoun said, referring to the policymaking and governing body of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. “You have a seven-member politburo that’s decided if you aren’t one of those party members, then you’re unable to participate.”
“I thought there was a proposal that was put in place that was extremely fair,” Calhoun said prior to Thursday’s Colorado Sports Corp. Football Kickoff Luncheon at the Colorado Springs Marriott that also featured coaches Dan Hawkins of Colorado, Steve Fairchild of Colorado State, John Wristen of CSU-Pueblo and Scott Downing of Northern Colorado. “It was very reasonable, and it made you earn access.
“You think back to the old Soviet Presidium, and what happened was you told every person, ‘Hey, you aren’t going to be able to grow a whole lot. We’re going to tell you all you can earn.’ That was the approach. … There’s a very, very strong resemblance that unfortunately is a part of college football.”
And then at the same meeting, Colorado State head coach Steve Fairchild chimed in:
“Utah, in my mind, was the best team in the country last year,” Fairchild said. “What they did to Alabama right after Florida struggled with them says it all. And I’m not sure if you play our league over again last year if TCU doesn’t win our league. So we’ve got some extremely talented football teams. It almost seems like a lawsuit in terms of trying to hold revenue back from certain conferences.”
Well said, Coaches Calhoun and Fairchild!
Yes, this entire Bogus BCS is really something, isn’t it?These Greedy Bastards running the BCS love their $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$, they love to Discriminate against Americans and treat them like “second-class” citizens, and it seems they are scared of playing the “non-BCS” teams on a level playing field where all teams have an opportunity to win the National Championship in college football each season.
So let’s see here, the BCS Boys and President’s supporting the BCS are Greedy, Big-time Discriminators, and they are Cowards
Greedy, Discriminatory and Cowardly.What a combination, but a good summation of the Bogus BCS.
Let’s face it BCS Boys, none of you have the guts to send out your teams to play on a level playing field against the “non-BCS” schools.How proud all of you must be, but don’t call yourself Americans.Because Americans believe in equality for all, fair treatment for all, and a level playing field for all, none of which the BCS delivers….
That is why the US Government will have to throw these BCS Discriminators out of in front of “the door” so that a legitimate and fair way to determine the National Champion in football can be put into place that also recognizes the American principles can be recognized and celebrated again in the game of college football.
Yes, those are our opinions on the BCS and the BCS Boys, at least the one’s we can put into a blog!
Congratulations to the LSU Tigers for winning the NCAA National Championship in Football (and a legitimate National Title to boot!)
It was great fun watching the College World Series and LSU has a hellava head baseball coach in Paul Mainieri and a great baseball team.Texas has nothing to hang their heads about and we here at Coaches Hot Seat continue to be amazed by Texas head coach Augie Garrido who has won 5 College World Series and been a runner-up 3 times (and has 13 trips to the College World Series in his coaching career).One of the main themes that we are interested in here at Coaches Hot Seat is why some coaches are winners, some are OK to mediocre, and some are terrible and clearly Augie Garrido has something inside of him that builds winners and champions.As usual, for the very best coaches like Garrido it is hard to point to a clear thing that makes them such a great coach, but usually the following things can be found with big winning coaches:
1.A clear plan for the team and program that can be communicated easily to his players
2.A clear set of standards for behavior on and off the field for his players
3.An ability to convince each and every player (often in different ways) that they can be winners as individuals and when they work together, winners as a team
4.High competence in coaching and management skills
5.A strong ability to handle forces outside the team:the media, the fans, the alumni, the administration, etc..
6.An ability to convince players that playing on a winning team is “important” to their lives.If some believes that something is “important” and “worthy” of his time and effort he will be a lot better at it, and the public will recognize how “important” that sport is to that athlete.Case in point:Tiger Woods cares deeply about winning, and the public loves to watch Tiger, precisely because he puts so much value into what he does on the golf course and winning golf tournaments.Winning is very “important” to Tiger Woods, thus it is important and an interest to us as well.
6.And maybe the most important ingredient, the intangible “presence.”As was said about Paul “Bear” Bryant about one of his players:
“I don’t know what he had, but he sure had a lot of it.”
Yes, Paul Bryant had “it” and all great coaches do as well.Clearly Augie Garrido has “IT”
How do you get “IT.”You don’t get “IT.”Either you have “IT” or “IT” starts to seep out of you to your players based upon a lot of hard work and effort as a coach.
What can one really say about the death of Michael Jackson?For those of us that grew up in the 1970s and 80s we remember Michael Jackson a lot differently than he is remembered today and for that we can only feel sorry for the man.Like Elvis, the celebrity may have been too much for Jackson and when you have that much money, that much power, that much celebrity, and not a large amount of maturity, it is easy to see how you can lose your wits and allow very bad people to get close to you.Elvis was done in by his personal behavior and the people around him and clearly Michael Jackson went off the edge many, many years ago.
We prefer to remember Michael Jackson as he was in our youth.
God-Speed to you Michael Jackson.
ABC – 123 – Michael Jackson and the Jackson 5
I Want You Back – Michael Jackson and the Jackson 5
Say, Say, Say – Michael Jackson and Paul McCartney
There were a lot of surprises in the 2008 season to those of us here at Coaches Hot Seat, but none of us were surprised that Paul Johnson was successful in his first year at Georgia Tech, and we fully expect Johnson’s Yellow Jackets to only get better in the coming years. In many ways the ACC conference is the perfect setting for Paul Johnson and his option offense, because schools in the ACC do not have the team speed on defense that one sees in the SEC and Big 12 conferences and there are also very few, if any high scoring offenses in the ACC today. There were a few of us here at Coaches Hot Seat that were hearing late last season that Auburn might take a run at Johnson if/when Tuberville did not return and maybe Auburn did ask to speak with Johnson, but if they did, Johnson surely turned them down. Although it seemed to us that Paul Johnson’s offense and style of coaching would have fit in very well at Auburn, Johnson probably smartly remembered how his Georgia Tech team got destroyed by LSU in the Chick-fil-A bowl and also the current roster of SEC head coaches and then wisely decided to stay in Atlanta. Now that Paul Johnson has planted his flag at Georgia Tech, the Yellow Jackets are going to be a force to be reckoned with for the foreseeable future and that cannot be good news for the head coaches in the ACC that got a taste of Johnson’s triple-option and aggressive defense last season. Paul Johnson and Georgia Tech put up a 8-4 record in the regular season in 2008, so what can they do for an encore? Good question….
Coaches Hot Seat Bottom Line
We predict that Paul Johnson and Georgia Tech will have a ____________ record in 2009.
We certainly hope that everyone has been watching the College World Series over the past 10 days, because it has been one great college baseball game after another.The National Championship game is tonight on ESPN at 4PM (Pacific Time) after both LSU and Texas won one game each in the best of 3 final series.What a difference the College World Series is from the Bogus BCS which no matter what anyone says, is a series of meaningless exhibition games that in the end crown an illegitimate champion.How proud these BCS Boys must be with the bogus system they have created, especially as it looks compared to student-athletes giving it all to win a real National Championship.Case in point, the reason why the college baseball postseason is so different than the bogus and meaningless postseason in college football is that the games ACTUALLY MEAN SOMETHING.What a novel idea?Playing games that actually mean something!
Do the BCS Boys care that they are working like hell to prop up a bogus system in the BCS that treats one group of U.S. citizens differently (and in our minds illegally) from another group of U.S. citizens, and that in the end produces a bogus champion?No, they do not care at all, and that is why it is going to be great fun when their discriminatory system is taken away from them and replaced with the same type of postseason system that is used in every other sport in intercollegiate athletics.
How are Grant Teaff and the Iranian Mullahs similar?In so many ways…
Watching the brave men and women of Iran that are willing to go into the streets to stand-up for what is right, even at the risk of their own lives and safety, several of us here at Coaches Hot Seat have been struck with the similarities between Grant Teaff’s gutless move to cut-off the media and college football fans from seeing the final coaches vote and how the Iranian Mullahs have been clamping down on the media and not allowing anyone to cover the facts of the conflict over the Iranian election.Yes, thinking about it, Teaff and the Iranian Mullahs are cut from the same cloth and Teaff should be so very proud of himself that he is now standing along such dictators!
One really wonders where what Grant Teaff and the coaches are really afraid of in not showing their final poll votes?Yes, what are Teaff and the coaches afraid of, or rather we all know what the coaches are afraid of, don’t we.Everyone got to see how the coaches vote the past few years and how their many conflicting personal interests, whether it be old friends in the coaching business, their own team’s interest, or sometimes even their hatred of other coaches and schools influence their final votes. Many coaches were seen to be hypocrites by the way they voted and that actually ranking the best teams from No. 1 on down was not really what the coaches were doing, but rather they were far too often serving their own personal and conflicting interests that really have very little to do with who the best football teams are at the end of the season.No, Grant Teaff and the coaches can’t let that information and the truth in the public domain, because let’s face it:
Grant Teaff and the Coaches CANNOT HANDLE THE TRUTH!(Well, actually they cannot handle the HEAT)!
Just like the Iranian Mullahs!
How proud all of you must be!Stand up and be counted Grant Teaff as an oppressor of information, but don’t think you bogus decision will stand, because in the end your pettiness will be seen for what it really is:
The arrogance of a man that is full of himself and some coaches that are afraid of the public’s wrath.
Again, just like the Iranian Mullahs!
OK, OK, Grant Teaff is not totally like the Iranian Mullahs, but he is a scared man that does not have the guts to stand up like a man and an American and say he and the coaches are not afraid to show how the coaches are voting.After all, it is college football fans that are paying Grant Teaff’s salary (and the salary of every other BCS Boy for that matter) and one would think that Teaff would give a rip about college football fans…NOT!
Memo to Grant Teaff:Grant, your meaningless little poll is going to be about as important as the polls in college basketball very soon, which to say, only just interesting fodder for the fans to take a look at from time to time and something that the playoff selection committee will briefly look at when seeding the teams for a playoff in college football.The Coaches Poll, the Bogus BCS Poll and every other poll is going to become meaningless, and no one will have to worry about Grant Teaff running scared like spooked rabbit and not having the guts to stand up like a man and have the final coaches’ poll results be made available to the public.No, that gutless decision will be meaningless pretty soon, because the coaches’ poll will mean about as much as tumbleweed in West Texas.That’s because, college football is going to decide its National Champion on the field of play, and with that new process the game is going to stop discriminating against a group of Americans, and both of those things will add up to a Great Day in America!
Hide your poll results “Gutless” Grant, but pretty soon no one is going to give a rip what you and the coaches do with your bogus poll, and that will also be a Great Day in America!
Now from the Coaches Hot Seat “We are pissed off and we are not going to take it anymore” and we must get it off of our chest Desk:
Has Arnold Schwarzenegger really gotten his Manhood back; and what’s new, the Democrats in California are bent on destroying the state
For the first time in about 4 years Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger seems to have gotten his manhood back and lo and behold Arnold seems bent on stopping the Democrats from destroying the state of California.At least that is what many of us thought until this week dawned and it became apparent that the Governator is now back in bed with the Democrats and that can only mean big trouble for the people of California.
With the state of California on the brink of insolvency and in desperate need for the state to drastically reduce its spending and rein in the overbearing state bureaucracy that is at war with businesses in the state, we see the following story in the Los Angeles Times this morning:
“A substantial number of the budget revisions that will go before the Legislature today promise no real savings or revenue and would ensure that California’s fiscal woes stretch beyond the current crisis into coming years.
The Democrat-driven plan, which on paper reduces the state deficit by $23.2 billion, contains $7.2 billion in bookkeeping maneuvers, an analysis of proposal shows. Moves to account for billions more are one-time fixes, are sure to be challenged in court or are grounded in rosy assumptions that the Legislature’s own fiscal advisors say are unlikely to materialize.”
Well, isn’t that just damn great?Do these fools really want to completely destroy the state of California and drive out more businesses and jobs in the process?It doesn’t make sense, but that is exactly what these idiots at the state capitol are doing and their foolishness has already and will in the future do tremendous damage to the state, all in the name of spending billions of dollars to prop up a bloated state bureaucracy that is itself destroying California.Yes, this would all be very funny, if it wasn’t so damn serious, but for those out there in the United States that are interested to see what the United States is almost certainly going to look like a few years from now, look to California, for many of the same policies that are being proposed in Washington DC right now have already been passed and implemented in California and those policies have utterly destroyed the state.
Schwarzenegger, how about getting some guts and standing up to these clowns that are destroying the state of California?Yes, that would be a hell of a news story that Arnold actually started acting like a man again.
Climate Bill set to be voted on in US House of Representatives on Friday
Speaking of California Democrats destroying the state, it seems that destroying California is not enough, as they are now trying to bring the same very climate policies that they have implemented in our state to the entire nation.It was reported late on Tuesday that the Democrats cut a deal on a climate bill (Politco.com story) so they can bring to the floor of the US House a bill that has at its centerpiece a “Cap and Trade” system that will raise the electricity bills on every American by two or three times (as they already have in the state of California) and then transfer hundreds of billions of dollars from the American people to the Greedy Bastards on Wall Street and to some of our friends here in Silicon Valley, all of whom have spent hundred of millions of dollars lobbying for this bill and have conveniently placed their preferred agents inside the Obama Administration.
That this climate bill will raise the electricity and energy bills on every American and will hit the middle and lower classes in a particularly harsh way seems to be lost on the Democrats who claim they care about the average American.Far from giving a damn about the average American, the climate bill that the US House will take up on Friday is nothing less than a meat hammer to the American middle-class and the poorest people in our country and we have no doubt that the Democrats will pay a heavy price for their foolishness on this issue, as every increases in the price of energy for the next 20 years will be hung around any Democrat that dares to file to run for public office.As we have opined in this blog before, there are a lot of common sense ways to get at the United States of America’s energy problems without punishing the American people, but if the Democrats are determined to lose their majority in Congress, with California’s from Nancy Pelosi, Henry Waxman and many others leading the let them have at it.
We would recommend though that it might not be a bad idea for the Democrats to drop by their local bookstore and pick up a few books on the Democratic Congress of the 1970s and the Jimmy Carter Presidency and see how Carter’s failure to control the price of energy (and his willingness to negotiate with brutal killers in the Middle East) led not only to Carter’s defeat after 1-term, but something that also fundamentally changed the American political landscape for 25 years.
Yes, these Democrats are not content with setting up a system of government in the state of California that seems to be interested in getting as many people on the public payroll as possible, that have set up state bureaucracies that are at war with business on a continuing basis, and to spend billions of dollars that the state does not have.No, these California Democrats are determined to bring their bankrupt philosophy to the country, and to that we can only say…
“God Help the United States of America!”(Yes, these people are really that stupid, and most of them have not talked to an average American in years!)
Double and Triple those power bills boys!America awaits anxiously the opportunity to spend more money that they do not have and the children of American look forward to not having food to eat and books for their schools because these bastards tripled energy prices all in the name of politically-correct nonsense.Brilliant!
The Iranian Situation and what is the Obama Administration thinking?Do they really believe they can negotiate with these dictators?
We fully understand the Obama Administration’s interest in walking the very fine line between condemning the actions of the Iranian government against its own people and not being seen as being actively engaged to overthrow the dictators that are running Iran, but this latest incident has revealed something that is very troubling in the United States’ approach to Iran.We thought last fall that Barack Obama was interested in talking with Iran to try and resolve Iran’s goal to have nuclear energy and nuclear weapons, but we never realized that Obama had any interest in doing anything but telling the Iranians that there really is nothing to negotiate.Yes, the US should be willing to meet with the Iranians at some level to tell them that we are more than willing to work out an arrangement so that they can build and use nuclear energy, but that we would also tell the Iranians in no certain terms that the Iranians would never be able to build nuclear weapons.There really should be no area of negotiation on the nuclear weapon issue and that if the Iranians decided to move forward with the building of nuclear weapons, we would tell them that the United States with our allies will remove their nuclear facilities from the face of the earth.If on the other hand, the Iranians would like to have and use peaceful nuclear energy, we will be more than willing to work out a system so the world can monitor their nuclear energy plants so that we can all be assured that they will not build nuclear weapons.
The above is not negotiable, but rather very simply what should be the facts as it pertains to US policy towards Iran.We should not allow Iran to develop nuclear weapons.Can it get any clearer than that?We can’t imagine so, and the reason we cannot allow the Iranian government to obtain nuclear weapons is that we believe there is a very good chance that the Iranian government would pass off those weapons to terrorists that would use them against the US or one of our allies (including Israel).That possibility, that the Iranians would either use a nuclear weapon, or more likely pass along a nuclear weapon off to a third party is why there really is no room for negotiation with the Iranians on the nuclear weapon issue.We certainly hope that is the position of the Obama Administration, even before the brutal crackdown of the Iranian government on their own people.Or rather, the thugs running Iran killing their own people.
Since it seems the current Iranian President, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad (who in our opinion just stole the Iranian presidential election from the Iranian people) is determined to obtain nuclear weapons for Iran and that he has threatened the West and Israel in the past on multiple occasions, we certainly hope that President Obama realizes that we cannot negotiate with this madman.Yes, we can talk to the Iranians, but negotiate with these thugs?Let’s hope not, because to do so would be foolish and wrong, and if you don’t believe that, just look at what the Iranian government has done to its own people in the past week.If they will do that to their own people, can you imagine what these bastards would do to the rest of the world if they had in their possession nuclear weapons?
Let’s just hope President Obama is not listening to those career diplomatic pinheads in the State Department (no not Hillary Clinton, because she is smart enough to know that these Iranian leaders are bastards) that believe anyone can be convinced to change their mind if you can get them into a room and talk to them long enough.
We have some news for those pinheads:If the Iranians will kill their own people, they most certainly would kill all of us if they had the opportunity.That is why the Iranians must never have access to nuclear weapons.Any position other than that is sheer stupidity and dangerous to the security of the United States of America.
Did anyone else see the interview with the Al Qaeda No. 3?
“”By God’s will, the Americans will not seize the Muslims’ nuclear weapons and we pray that the Muslims will have these weapons and they will be used against the Americans,” Mustafa Abul-Yazeed, al-Qaeda’s leader in Afghanistan, said in an exclusive interview that aired on Sunday.””
So the Al Qaeda No. 3 hopes that they will get a hold of Pakistan’s nuclear weapons and that, “they will be used against the Americans.”Bastard!Here, watch a video of the interview with this Al Qaeda Bastard:
If that doesn’t get your attention then nothing will, and that should make everyone completely understand why we must track down and kill everyone in the Al Qaeda, especially Osama bin Laden and his top deputies.To do anything else (as George W. Bush did not do for 7 years) but kill these bastards is not only foolish, but puts the United States of American in danger of what would be a devastating attack against our country.
Since the famous investor (and one of the largest insurers against catastrophic events) Warren Buffett said in 2002 that a nuclear attack against the United States is “virtually a certainty” no one should discount the danger that our country continues to be in as long as the Al Qaeda and other terrorist organizations have any opportunity to make plans against the US and our allies.President Obama has said that his No. 1 issue everyday is protecting the American people, and we will certainly take his word on that since it could not possibly be anything else, then the destruction of Al Qaeda and their ability to make war against their neighbors and the West must be extinguished.By extinguished, we mean kill the bastards.If you ever want to steel your desire to kill these Al Qaeda bastards, just remember back to those people that had to jump out of the World Trade Center to get away from the fire, only to fall to their death.
Yes, get the Al Qaeda Bastards and don’t negotiate with these Iranian thugs.
The NCAA and their Hypocrisy on the “Vacated” wins at Florida State
What can one really say about the NCAA’s decision to force Florida State and Bobby Bowden to “vacate” wins when the coaches at FSU unknowingly, and we say unknowingly on purpose because the NCAA could not prove that any coach at FSU knew that these players were cheating and thus they had no idea they were playing “ineligible” players, as defined by the NCAA?Yes, what can one say?Let’s see what we say….
“”In this case, the vacation penalty is not even particularly severe — it is a penalty that flows naturally from the university’s use of ineligible student-athletes in competition and it is a penalty often opposed in cases that have far fewer aggravating factors than those that exist here,” the committee said of the case, which included 61 Florida State student-athletes.”
OK, so the NCAA Infractions Committee believes that “the vacation penalty is not even particularly severe,” in the Florida State case.Well, we completely and totally disagree with the NCAA Infractions Committee on this wins “vacated” issue, but if the NCAA Infractions Committee and the NCAA itself is going to be consistent on the enforcement of penalties against its member schools, then by all means, let’s be consistent boys and girls.
Let’s see here, what member of the NCAA Infractions Committee that has passed down this outrageous and unacceptable win “vacation” penalty against Florida State and Bobby Bowden might have a massive conflict of interest whose presence might also point to the incredible hypocrisy of the NCAA.Hmmmmmm, who could that person be?
That man is Paul T. Dee, Chair of the NCAA Infractions Committee, and former athletic director at the University of Miami.Mr. Dee, who got his undergraduate degree from the University of Florida and started working at the University of Miami in 1981, taking over as athletic director in 1993 and then retiring from the AD position in the summer of 2008.That Mr. Dee got his undergraduate degree from Florida and worked at Miami for 27 years is a very interesting side note to the NCAA sanctions against Florida State and Bobby Bowden, but that is not the point of blog post.
No, the issue at hand in this FSU case is hypocrisy, and the hypocrisy is that Florida State University has just been handed a penalty that included FSU “vacating” past wins, because of the behavior of “61 Florida State student-athletes,” according to the NCAA.For some unknown reason, having the NCAA Infractions Committee talking about a university in the state of Florida that had a group of student-athletes that had acted in an inappropriate way and were punished by the NCAA seems oh so very familiar.Now what school could that have possibly been in the past that had a large group of student-athletes that did things that violated the rules of the school and which led to the NCAA imposing severe restrictions upon that same university and which was also a school where it’s athletic department was being run by the same person that is now chairing the NCAA Committee on Infractions?
You got it?Paul Dee was that man and he was the AD of the University of Miami when the following happened (Below from bookrags.com):
1989-1995: Pell Grant scandal and Self-Imposed/NCAA sanctions
“In 1994, Tony Russell, a former University of Miami academic advisor, pleaded guilty to helping more than 80 student athletes, 57 of whom were football players, falsify Pell Grant applications in exchange for kickbacks from the players themselves. The scandal dated all the way back to 1989 and secured more than $220,000 in federal grant money. In late 1995, the NCAA concluded that, in addition to the fraudulent Pell Grants facilitated by Mr. Russell, the university had also provided or allowed over $400,000 worth of other, improper payments to Miami football players. The NCAA also found that the university had failed to wholly implement its drug testing program, and permitted three football student-athletes to compete without being subject to the required disciplinary measures specified in the policy. Finally, the NCAA concluded, the university had lost institutional control over the football program.Miami lost seven scholarships as a result of a self-imposed sanction in 1995, and another 24 scholarships were disallowed by the NCAA over the next two years, but Miami avoided the so-called “death penalty.” As a result of the scandal, Sports Illustrated in the summer of 1995 argued in a controversial cover story that Miami should shut down its football program.”
So, the University of Miami had an…
“….academic advisor, pleaded guilty to helping more than 80 student athletes, 57 of whom were football players, falsify Pell Grant applications in exchange for kickbacks from the players themselves. The scandal dated all the way back to 1989 and secured more than $220,000 in federal grant money. In late 1995, the NCAA concluded that, in addition to the fraudulent Pell Grants facilitated by Mr. Russell, the university had also provided or allowed over $400,000 worth of other, improper payments to Miami football players.”
….and that in this Miami case
“The NCAA also found that the university had failed to wholly implement its drug testing program, and permitted three football student-athletes to compete without being subject to the required disciplinary measures specified in the policy. Finally, the NCAA concluded, the university had lost institutional control over the football program. “
The NCAA of course punished the University of Miami with scholarship reductions, but for some reason we cannot find the any “vacated” wins by the Miami Hurricane football team or their coach Dennis Erickson.How can that be?The NCAA Infractions Committee in both the FSU (and Alabama) cases claimed that “vacating” wins was the appropriate punishment, but there no “vacating” of wins for Miami with very similar infractions.That strikes us as very odd, but not unusual for the NCAA which seems to us to have different rules for different schools and even different rules for what seems to be the almost the same damn infractions.
That the NCAA did not “vacate” the wins at the University of Miami between 1989 – 1994 is not a trivial issue, because in those years Miami put up the following records under Dennis Erickson:
1989 – 11-1 – National Championship
1990 – 10-2
1991 – 12-0 – National Championship
1992 – 11-1
1993 – 9-3
1994 – 10-2
Total 1989 – 1994 – 63 – 9 – 2 National Championships
By our count if the NCAA was actually consistent in its rulings against the University of Miami and Florida State then Miami should have “vacated” 63 WINS and TWO NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPS!
But alas, we check Dennis Erickson’s career coaching record and we see that Erickson was not required to “vacate” any wins, nor was Miami, but how can that be?The NCAA just stated in a letter to Florida State that:
“”In this case, the vacation penalty is not even particularly severe — it is a penalty that flows naturally from the university’s use of ineligible student-athletes in competition and it is a penalty often opposed in cases that have far fewer aggravating factors than those that exist here,””
On the above there is only one thing we can say:
The NCAA is full of HORSESHIT!
If the NCAA is going to force Florida State and Bobby Bowden to “vacate” 14 wins because FSU used “ineligible” players in 2006 and 2007 then the NCAA should immediately correct the record book and make the University of Miami “vacate” 63 wins under Dennis Erickson.If the NCAA does not move immediately to force the University of Miami to “vacate” the 63 wins that they won when there were playing football players that were violating NCAA rules, and what seems like to us, US Federal Law, then how in the world can the NCAA possibly justify anything that it does on any issue?Good question.
So what will it be NCAA?Will you actually stand-up and admit that you have been incredibly inconsistent on the Miami and Florida State cases, or will you hide behind what is nothing more than HORSESHIT, and HORSESHIT that is being doled out by a man in Paul Dee that was the AD of an athletic department that had student-athletes violating rules in much the same way that student-athletes were breaking the rules at FSU, and amazingly did not have to “vacate” any wins.Of course, in the Miami case the NCAA found that Miami “lost institutional control over the football program,” but even with that Miami was not required to “vacate” wins.That strikes us as very strange.No, that is BULLSHIT!
To say that makes no sense and runs counter to the principles of the United States and what should be the principles of the NCAA, is a massive understatement.Just to drive this point home, the NCAA said in their recent letter to FSU that:
“It said this case was the “first time in at least a decade,” involving “egregious academic fraud,” to present all the factors critical to assessing the penalty so the decision to impose it was “an easy, virtually compelled” one.”
If the NCAA’s decision against FSU was “an easy, virtually compelled one,” then it should be a very easy decision to immediately vacate 63 wins at the University of Miami between the years of 1989 and 1994.In both cases, the coaches involved did not know that the student-athletes were breaking the rules, so yes, “vacating” Miami’s wins is “an easy” one indeed.
If those Miami win are not “vacated” the NCAA is very simply, nothing less than a MASSIVE FRAUD that will treat one institution one way and another institution in a totally different way when the very same issues, namely that the coaches in question did not “knowingly” play “ineligible” athletes, which is the most relevant point on this case.
To Paul Dee and NCAA Infractions Committee:We here at Coaches Hot Seat are watching this case very closely, and if the NCAA wants to set a standard in this case that coaches and schools will be punished by “vacating” wins and championships when the coaches involved were not aware they were playing “ineligible” athletes, then we hope you are ready to open up the coaching record book, because we could be talking about massive revisions to win-loss record for coaches in dozens of sports at hundreds of schools.You (the NCAA) have already painted yourself into a corner with this arrogant letter to Florida State, but there is still a chance for sanity on this bogus issue of “vacating” past wins and championships, but if this standard against FSU is set, then we can only refer the NCAA Boys to Hosea 8:7
“For they have sown the wind, and they shall reap the whirlwind: it hath no stalk; the bud shall yield no meal: if so be it yield, the strangers shall swallow it up.”
Yes, reap the whirlwind.We have 63 wins at Miami when Dennis Erickson was the head coach and Paul Dee was the AD that must be vacated.That will only be the tip of the iceberg NCAA Boys….
The Iranian Situation
A couple of us here at Coaches Hot Seat went to be early last night so we could get up early to watch Al Jazeera – English TV online (Yes, you can watch Al Jazeera – English TV online for free and it is very interesting to see how the world looks through other’s eyes – Link to TV Channel Online – Link to Al Jazeera – English website) and it was interesting to watch the Iranian leader, Khamenei speak to the Iranian people this morning.It sounded to us that Khamenei was directly threatening the Iranians that were in the streets protesting the recent election results, which everyone must surely know was as fraudulent as a $3 dollar bill.So the Iranian leader has now made it very clear that his government will kill protesters if they go into the streets to protest the election?Really, well that says a whole damn lot about your country, and yourself Khamenei, none of it good.
It is very strange to watch a country that is led by a religious leader as is the case in Iran and that so many people will follow the dictates of that leader no matter what.No, thankfully that is not what the United States of America is about and we can thank our revolutionary Founders for setting up what we believe is the greatest government in the history of Man on Earth.
Relative to the Iranian situation, earlier this week we commented on how we would have reacted to the Iranians that are protesting in the streets and as is usually the case here at Coaches Hot Seat, we humbly (yes, that is a joke!) recommended that President Obama not get too far out of front of the protests or be seen by the Iranians to be getting involved in the Iranian election.
On Tuesday, President Obama said in the Rose Garden:
“It’s not productive given the history of U.S.-Iranian relations to be seen as meddling.”
Although we generally agree with President Obama on the above statement, we don’t believe that is the way we would have phrased a comment in reaction to the current situation in Iran.The above statement is what was surely being discussed in a policy meeting on the Iranian situation, but it is not really relative to what US policy should be towards Iran on this issue, because anyone that is paying attention knows what the US was up to in Iran in 1953.No, that was not one of our better moments….
If we may humbly say (yes, that is joke, because we are not shy about giving out our opinions as readers of this blog know) if we would have been asked to comment on the Iranian situation we would have said something like:
“The United States of America stands for freedom, wherever and whenever it exists in the world.Freedom of speech, freedom of assembly and freedom to stand up for what you as an individual believe in.In addition, the United States believes deeply in the right of the people to pursue their own happiness in the way that he or she deems best.The Iranian government has claimed they have held a free and fair election and if that is so then the government there should have nothing to fear from their own people standing up for what they believe in.If you are asking me if the United States of America stands with the protesters that are in the streets in Iran, I say that if they are marching for freedom then we stand with them, if they are marching for the right to be able to determine their own future and their own happiness, and for their right to have a say in the future of Iran, then yes the United States stands with the people of Iran.
The answer to your question is that the United States of America stands for anyone that stands up for freedom.
As for the statement by the Iranian leader Khamenei today and his overt threat against the Iranian people if they go out into the streets to protest, I can only wonder just what does Mr. Khamenei have to fear from his own people?
Next question.”
Well, there’s our two-cents on the Iranian situation and as for those of us at Coaches Hot Seat, we say Bravo! to the Iranians that have the guts and the courage to go out into the streets and protest the evil dictators that run Iran and your lives.Yes, Bravo! and God-Speed to you in your efforts to stand up for what you believe in and even more importantly for your future, your family’s future, and for the future of Iran.
As one of our greatest President’s, Franklin D. Roosevelt said:
“In the truest sense, freedom cannot be bestowed; it must be achieved.”
If you want freedom in Iran, you must earn it, you must achieve it.The United States can no more bestow freedom on the Iranian people than the evil dictators that rule you now can, but you can achieve your freedom and change the future of Iran and the future of the world in the process.
As the ancient Greek philosopher Thucydides said:
“The secret of happiness is freedom. The secret of freedom is courage”
Have Courage, Be Brave, and you can change the world.
The Great Discriminators, otherwise known here at Coaches Hot Seat as the BCS Boys, took some time away from their incredibly elaborate meetings at the 5-Star Broadmoor Resort…(while universities and colleges are tightening their belts and cutting expenses anywhere and everywhere)
…. to issue a statement on the Mountain West Conference proposal to change the BCS so that it is line with the principles (and laws) of the United States of America.Yes, we here at Coaches Hot Seat do not believe that the BCS is right, or legal for that matter, for college football teams and conferences that represent publicly-funded institutions to discriminate against a group of our fellow citizens, but then we actually give a damn about the principles that our nation is founded upon.As opposed to the people, the Great Discriminators that seem to enjoy running what is nothing less than a cartel that openly discriminates against teams that are not in the major football conferences and thus American citizens.
“”While some conference reports indicated possible interest in a future evaluation of elements of the proposal, specifically governance structure and revenue, there was no overall support for the proposal,””
Well, how nice. The Great Discriminators, who are having a great time at a 5-Star Resort (The Broadmoor in Colorado Springs, CO) while universities and university athletic departments are reigning in budgets and cutting expenses, put out a statement that “there was no overall support for the proposal (Mountain West proposal by MWC commish Craig Thompson).Yes, that statement makes perfect sense, because it has been very clear to us here at Coaches Hot Seat for a long time now that there was only one way that George Wallace was going to be removed from the schoolhouse door at the University of Alabama, forcefully by the US government, and that the same method will have to be used to get the Great Discriminators to understand that it is not right, it is not fair, and in our minds, it is not legal to discriminate against our fellow citizens just to keep a bogus postseason propped up that is nothing more, and will never be anything more, than a series of meaningless and bogus exhibition games.As for the argument that the bowls have been around for a long-time and that they must stay in the game of college football, we can only say that slavery was around for a long time and it took a Civil War to settle that issue, and it we are convinced that it will take US governmental action to get the Great Discriminators to understand their evil and very unfair ways with this Bogus BCS.
Yes, evil ways, because we cannot imagine that any of the Great Discriminators would allow their children to be discriminated against in the way the BCS Boys do against a group of student-athletes just because they play in the “wrong” conference.In every other I-A sport in collegiate athletics, every team and/or individual has the opportunity at the beginning of the season to play for the national title, except for college football, and that is very simply something that will be changed, Great Discriminators or not.As for the major bowl executives that in our opinion care nothing about the game of college football, the players, the coaches, or even the institutions involved, except at how they can continue the bowls so they can continue to haul down big salaries and perks, we are going to give all of you a very good piece of free advice.You had better bring the rest of your BCS Boys to their senses, or all of the major bowl executives might just very well find yourselves out of a bowl, and thus a job.There is a window of opportunity to implement a postseason playoff system in college football that would include the major bowl games, but that window of opportunity is closing and if it closes college football will see a postseason tournament like very other tournament in collegiate athletics, and if the bowls do not get the BCS Boys to move soon, that new system will not include the major bowl games.
As for the minor bowls, they have nothing to fear from an 8 or 16 team playoff, because there will always be plenty of teams, coaches, players and fans that will get a thrill out of being rewarded for mediocrity. Certainly any team that wins 6 games, or wins 7 games with a I-AA team on the schedule cannot be by definition be anything more than mediocre, but if bowl executives and others want to claim these mediocre teams have actually done something, go for it.Just don’t come crying to us when the players on those teams enter the workforce and do mediocre work and wonder why no one is telling them how great they are.No, don’t talk to us about the issue of rewarding mediocrity, because we see it every day in our lives and it is flat-out killing the United States of America.Keep your bowls if you like, because the real action in America, as it should be, is about crowning a champion, something that the BCS cannot do in a legitimate way, because the BCS actually makes a mockery out of the game of college football by continue with this BCS foolishness.Meaningless bowl games filled with 6 and 7 win teams is not what the United States of America should be about, but the Chinese are kicking our ass across the board right now, so maybe it is appropriate that we continue to reward mediocrity as Rome burns through the night.
Later in Natalie Meisler’s Denver Post article on the Great Discriminators she writes:
“Western Athletic Conference commissioner Karl Benson declined to comment other than to say “the WAC supports the need for greater access and greater revenue distribution.””
Now, none of us have ever met Karl Benson, unlike almost all of the other BCS Boys, but if we were a member of football team in the WAC Conference, Karl Benson is not a man we would want representing us.That also goes for every other “non-BCS” conference commissioner as well (save Craig Thompson), because all of them have been rolled by the BCS Boys to such a point that it is obvious to any real American that a group of student-athletes are being treated like “second-class” citizens by the Great Discriminators, but what can one really make of Karl Benson.The WAC has been playing some very good to great football for a number of years now, and these undefeated WAC teams cannot get a shot at playing for the national championship.Shameful, that is what Karl Benson and every other “non-BCS” conference commissioner should be feeling right now, because the student-athletes on the teams in their conferences have every right and opportunity to play for a national championship every year, but they do not have that chance right now, and that fact can be laid right at the feet of these commissioners.As for Karl Benson, how can he possibly look at himself in the mirror in the morning?Frankly, in our opinion, his lack of guts to stand up against the Great Discriminators is disgraceful.
Luckily for the game of college football, there is a commissioner that is actually representing the student-athletes on the football teams in his conference in an appropriate and strong way, and that is Craig Thompson of the Mountain West.No, we do not agree with everything in Craig Thompson’s proposal to reform the BCS, but at least he is Man enough to stand up for the schools in his conference, something that Karl Benson is not willing to do, but Boise State (WAC member) president Bob Kustra will proudly do for all to see.Here’s the kicker about Bob Kustra, he not only is willing to stand up for the Boise State student athletes (BCS system is fundamentally flawed, unfair), he is also doing a hellava job of running BSU and turning it into a world-class university.Several of us here at Coaches Hot Seat get to Boise, Idaho on a regular basis for business and football games in the fall, and not only is Boise a great town, Boise State is quickly becoming a great place to send one’s kids to college, and that is not something that can be said by a whole lot of universities anymore.(Bob Kustra does a radio show for the NPR station, New Horizons, so if you ever want to find out more about the man just check out one of the podcasts from a previous show)
We here at Coaches Hot Seat, because we have children that will be going off to college in the near and long-term future, appreciate people like Craig Thompson and Bob Kustra standing up for what is right and for the principles of the United States of America.
As for the Great Discriminators, all of you should be ashamed of yourselves and be assured that the BCS will fortunately be brought to an end, TV contracts or not. As for the college presidents that are scheduled to meet to look over the recomendations of the BCS Boys, we only hope that you realize that if you continue to discriminate against a group of student-athletes and American citizens because they are not members of a certain group of conferences, we can only say, join the George Wallace bandwagon and how proud that must make all of you!
What the BCS is costing college football and collegiate athletics
Speaking of TV contracts, in 2007 and 2009 we here at Coaches Hot Seat did an analysis of what the BCS is costing college athletics instead of having a postseason playoff system like very other sport in collegiate athletics uses to determine their national champion and after consulting with some friends of our in New York that purchase media on networks and cable and with friends of our that work in the TV business, below are the real numbers of just what the BCS is costing collegiate athletics.Yes, the current economy has lowered the numbers a bit over what we came up with a year ago, but still a postseason college football tournament that ran from the second week in December to the first week in January would very simply be the biggest sporting event in the United States of America, even surpassing the NFL, NBA, MLB and the NCAA Basketball Tournament.
We will work with the numbers for the next BCS contract and Rose Bowl games, which run from 2011 – 2014 (The below college football postseason tournament numbers are based upon on what we estimate would be the winning bid for the TV rights for a 16 and 8 team college football tournament):
BCS
2011 – 2014
ESPN BCS TV Contract:$125 million per year
ESPN Rose Bowl TV Contract:$37.5 million per year
Total Value BCS TV Contract 2011 – 2014:$162.5
Total Value BCS TV Contract 2011 – 2014:$650 million
Now let’s look at what a 16 and 8 team postseason college football tournament would generate from a TV contract:
16-Team College Football Postseason Tournament
2011 – 2014
16-Team Tournament TV Contract:$450 million average per year
8 Total Value of 16-Team TV Contract 2011 – 2014:$1.8 billion
8-Team College Football Postseason Tournament
2011 – 2014
8-Team Tournament TV Contract:$300 million average per year
Total Value of 8-Team TV Contract 2011 – 2014:$1.2 billion
So let’s see here.On top of the Great Discriminators and college football use of the Bogus BCS that doesn’t even crown a legitimate national champion and treats a group of student-athletes like “second-class” citizens, the Bogus BCS COSTS collegiate athletics:
16-Team Tournament
$287.5 MILLION DOLLARS per year
$1.15 BILLION DOLLARS over a 4-year contract
8-Team Tournament
$137.5 MILLION DOLLARS per year
$550 MILLION DOLLARS over a 4-year contract
Throw in another $100 million per year or so in title, naming and marketing rights that a college football postseason tournament would generate that the Bogus BCS cannot and we are talking about some real money that the Bogus BCS is costing collegiate athletics.
Another great accomplishment by the Great Discriminators!Way to go!You are costing collegiate athletics something between HUNDREDS OF MILLIONS up to OVER A BILLION DOLLARS just over the life of an upcoming 4-year TV contract.How proud all of you must be.
Add to the above numbers that the BCS has cost collegiate athletics somewhere north of $4 BILLION DOLLARS since its inception in 1998, and one wonders just what in hell the GREAT DISCRIMINATORS are thinking.
How proud the GREAT DISCRIMINATORS must be that they are costing collegiate athletics all of this money, especially when athletic departments are cutting their budgets deeply just to keep their sports teams going.And what are the Great Discriminators against?A championship system that is used by every other sport in collegiate athletics.We would call the Great Discriminators crazy, but we know them to be arrogant, greedy, and really only interested in holding power and the control of the money that comes with that power.This has nothing to do with what is best for the game of college football or what is best for the student-athletes, this is about $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ and POWER!
And for that, the Great Discriminators should be very ashamed.
The US Open Begins and the Great Payne Stewart
As we are writing this blog the first group is poised to tee off in the US Open at Bethpage Black Golf Course on Long Island in New York.The first group is off at 4:00 AM Pacific Coast Time and the TV coverage on ESPN starts at 7:00 AM our time.Most of us here at Coaches Hot Seat will have the tournament turned on at work the next couple of days and there really is nothing like the challenge that is the US Open Golf Championship. Those of us that have DirecTV have the expanded coverage of the US Open on 4 different channels, so all we can say let’s tee this baby up! Let’s just hope the weather turns out better than the forecast this week!
Who do we like to win the US Open? Since it is boring picking Tiger Woods, we are pulling for Phil Michelson to win the ’09 in a thriller! Give ‘em Hell Phil!
Of course, when we here at Coaches Hot Seat think about the US Open one of the first people that comes to our mind was the Great Payne Stewart.It was 10 years ago at the US Open at Pinehurst that we all watched Payne beat Phil Michelson on the last green and then only a few months later when his plane took off on that doomed flight.Most of us remember where we were on that terrible October day in 1999 and for the lucky few of us that got to run into Payne during our lives, we can only say that he was a great golfer and a hellava guy.In early 1999 Payne Stewart won the AT&T golf tournament at Pebble Beach and watching him win that tournament was both a joy and a great motivator to us, because Payne Stewart loved to win and he loved life.The things that stand out when those of us here at Coaches Hot Seat think of Payne Stewart was his competiveness and will to win, his passion for life, and his love for his family and friends.
