College Football – The Sports Fan Project

While I was Sleeping

December 14, 2024December 14, 2024DouglasTHillLeave a comment

Today, I offer apologies to regular Sports Fan Project readers.

I’ve tried – mightily – to provide at least one post (beyond The Fan Teaser) each week. Alas, upon returning from Event No. 10 of my Around the World in 80 Sporting Events project (a pair of SEC football rivalry games: the Egg Bowl and the Iron Bowl), I began to feel progressively worse with each passing day.

Without getting into too much detail, suffice to say that overnight coughing fits were making it difficult for me to sleep, drove my wife across the hall into another bedroom, and, generally, made me feel lousy for the better part of a week.

A tele-health visit to my doctor’s office elicited a round of Azythromycin, some Codeine-infused cough syrup, and my first-ever inhaler to open up the bronchi should I encounter any more coughing fits.

Mercifully, after 10 days of feeling no better than meh, I believe I’ve turned a corner.

With that, and a knowing nod to the 1995 film “While You Were Sleeping” here’s a few things that transpired in the world of sports while I was in an altered state along with my thoughts.

The Legendary Bill Belichick is Returning to the Sidelines … at the University of North Carolina?!?

No headline during my convalescence made me question the amount of Codeine in that cough syrup more than this one.

Bill Belichick, the curmudgeonly 72-year-old ex-head coach of one of the NFL’s most successful modern-day dynasties is ending his 1-year sabbatical away from coaching by heading back to school (please, cue Rodney Dangerfield’s triple-lindy from the 1986 film of the same name) for the first time ever?

What could possibly go wrong?

Or … right?

Clearly the Tar Heels have no issue hiring an older coach (shoot, Belichick’s a year younger than the man he’s replacing, Mack Brown!) and as I began to listen to the punditry go deeper on this decision, it’s not as outlandish as it seems on the surface.

NCAA football, at this level, has never been more like the professional game. See the transfer portal; name, image, and likeness payments; the actual payments coming from schools thanks to recent court settlements; programs hiring general managers; etc. So I suppose the hire – and Belichick’s willingness dive in – makes some sense.

Of course, there’s also the family connection. His father, Steve, was an assistant there from 1953-55, and his son, also named Steve, is expected to join him in Chapel Hill after serving as defensive coordinator at the University of Washington this season.

Schools Upset About Being Left Out of Expanded College Football Playoff

Who could have seen this coming?

The College Football Playoff expands from four to 12 teams this season and teams ranked No. 13 (and even No. 14) feel they were given the screwgie by the selection committee.

Sorry – not sorry – University of Alabama faithful.

I understand the Southeastern Conference is probably – from top to bottom – the most challenging conference in all of college football. Heck, I saw firsthand six of the 16 teams compete in person this year. One of those was Oklahoma in the Cotton Bowl against Texas and they looked like a high school team against the Longhorns during this year’s Red River Rivalry (Event No. 8 of Around the World).

You know what? Alabama lost to the Sooners, 24-3. Didn’t score a touchdown against the Sooners!

The Crimson Tide also lost to Vanderbilt, 40-35, when ‘Bama was the top-ranked team in the nation, the first time in 40 years Alabama lost to the Commodores.

Do either of those outcomes seem playoff worthy?

The team catching the Tide’s ire is Southern Methodist University because, presumably, it has the misfortune of playing in the Atlantic Coast Conference which, from top to bottom, is nowhere near as competitive as the SEC.

My Take: Schools should not be punished for the conference they compete in. Beyond the non-conference games, schools have no control over who’s on the schedule or how good (or bad) those teams might be. SMU played Nevada (which played for the Mountain West championship) and Texas Christian (of the Big 12) as part of their 3-game non-conference slate. The ACC, it should be noted, played nine conference games while the SEC plays but eight (that extra non-league game Alabama played … Football Championship Subdivision semifinalist, Mercer).

Furthermore, much of the teeth gnashing could be mitigated if, rather than a 12-team playoff, it was 16. Sure, Team No. 17 will now be the one that’s aggrieved, but as articulated above, by the time we get to the 16th, 17th, and 18th-ranked teams in the country, we’ll find plenty of flaws and limited chances at success in such a tournament. It’d also eliminate the first-round byes which should mute some of the whining about less-deserving teams such as Arizona State and Boise State from receiving the significant competitive advantage of an extra week of rest.

Allen & Parker Get the Hall Call but Where’s John?

**^{Pitcher Tommy John while with the Los Angeles Dodgers. (Getty Sports Photo)}**

The National Baseball Hall of Fame‘s 16-member Classic Era Committee voted Dick Allen and Dave Parker into the hallowed hall, it was announced last weekend. The voting panel consisted of Hall of Famers Ozzie Smith, Paul Molitor, Eddie Murray, Tony Perez, Lee Smith, Joe Torre, five current or former executives (Sandy Alderson, Terry McGuirk, Dayton Moore, Arte Moreno, and Brian Sabean), and five historians/media members (Bob Elliott, Leslie Heaphy, Steve Hirdt, Dick Kaegel and Larry Lester).

For those interested, Larry Lester – co-founder of the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum – was a guest earlier this season on Conversations with Sports Fans. You’re able to find a link to his episode here.

Not that my opinion matters much, but I’m fine with both Allen and Parker heading to Cooperstown.

My real emotion (which is anger) lies with one of the six other finalists who didn’t make it: Tommy John.

John received just seven votes from the panel (12 are required for enshrinement) and, for the life of me, I don’t understand why over 50% of the panelists left him off their ballots.

He pitched for 26 seasons, amassed 288 wins, had a career earned run average of 3.34, went 6-3 in 14 post-season appearances for both the Dodgers, Yankees, and Angels, and had a playoff ERA of 2.65. For you analytic lovers, he had a career Wins Above Replacement (WAR) of 61.6.

And, oh yeah, he was the first pitcher to undergo, you know, Tommy John Surgery which has impacted, I don’t know, just about every pitcher this century!!!

Here are a few comparisons of current Hall of Famers:

Sandy Koufax – 12 seasons, 165 wins, a 2.76 ERA, and a career WAR of 48.9. Playoffs: 4-3 with a 0.95 ERA in eight appearances.
Bert Blyleven – 22 seasons, 287 wins, a 3.31 ERA, and a career WAR of 94.5. Playoffs: 3-1 with a 2.47 ERA in eight appearances.
Jim Kaat – 25 seasons, 283 wins, a 3.45 ERA, and a career WAR of 50.5. Playoffs: 1-3 with a 4.03 ERA in nine appearances
Jack Morris – 18 seasons, 254 wins, a 3.90 ERA, and a career WAR of 43.5. Playoffs: 7-4 with a 3.80 ERA in 13 appearances

It’s worth noting, that Kaat and Morris were voted in by some version of a Hall of Fame veterans committee that determines John’s fate.

The Detroit Lions are 12-1 … and Have Not Distanced Themselves from their Pursuers

Go figure, my hometown Detroit Lions – long the laughingstock of professional football – are having a season for the ages, but despite being 12-1 for the first time in franchise history they’re still just a game clear of the divisional rival, Minnesota Vikings, and the NFC East’s Philadelphia Eagles.

Despite recent success and a different feel about this year’s team, you’ll forgive us long-suffering Lions’ fans if their Pavlovian response to this amazing start is that they’re just a couple of ill-timed miscues away from not winning the NFC North and having to battle through Wild Card Weekend as a 14-3 road team and thus, deprive the fan base of home playoff action.

Related: Lions Fans Upset by 2025 Ticket Price Increases

Color me surprised that the Lions will, for the second consecutive year, notably increase the cost of tickets. (Read about it here.)

Did we think a heretofore moribund franchise that was in the bottom quartile of NFL ticket prices would – out of sheer benevolence – just keep everything the same!?!

Folks, this is a elementary school economics. When demand increases and supply cannot be increased similarly (there’s only so many seats in Ford Field, right?), prices are going to increase. It’s the price fans pay to have a 12-1 team that seems to have a realistic shot for a lengthy advancement in the playoffs.

If you’re harkening for the days when tickets were plentiful (and cheap!) then you’re also harkening for that 2008 season when the Honolulu Blue and Silver finished 0-16.

And, remember, as my friend John U. Bacon is fond of saying: “Greed remains undefeated.”

Go Army Beat Navy! Go Navy Beat Army!

December 5, 2022December 4, 2022DouglasTHillLeave a comment

There are a lot – and I do mean a lot – of sporting events I’d like to see live before my time on Earth is over. One of those is America’s Game, known more commonly as the annual Army-Navy football game.

It’ll be played this Saturday afternoon at Philadelphia’s Lincoln Financial Field. Both teams enter the game with losing records, Army is 5-6, and Navy is 4-7. Both lost to Air Force this season so the Commander-in-Chief‘s Trophy is not at stake (it’s already resting in Colorado Springs for the first time since 2016).

Yet, there will be thousads of cadets dressed to impress in the stands and it will be a full house of over 67,000 fans. There will be pomp, there will be circumstance, and there will no doubt be a flyover. If past experiences tell us anything, there will also be some crazy weather that will be off-putting to watch … even from the comfort of my own recliner. Oh, and if I wanted to book a quick flight to Philly or hop in my car for a 10-hour ride and see it in person, tickets range from $200 in the upper reaches of the stadium to over $1100 for club level seating. For what it’s worth, that’s roughly the same price range for tickets to the January 2, 2023 Rose Bowl between Utah and Penn State.

Having said all that, I still want to experience it once.

I’ve done absolutely zero research, but are there any other rivalries that have their own officially sanctioned website? Army-Navy does! Complete with a countdown clock. Check it out here. There’s even something called the Star Series which tracks the results of every Army-Navy athletic competition annually, dating back to 2016-17.

Perhaps my fascination with the game dates to that time back in 1992 I had an opportunity to interview Navy’s Heisman Trophy-winning quarterback, Roger Staubach, who was in Ann Arbor for an event at Domino’s Farms. The combination of his humility and his fond recollections of that game are still etched upon my mind.

Or, maybe, it’s because it’s the only major college football game played the second weekend in December each year and it has the eyes of a nation to itself (as it should).

Whatever the reason, I’ll be tuning in this Saturday wondering when the opportunity to attend in person will present itself. If, like me, this is an itch you’d like to scratch, check out the future sites here. Up next, Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, MA, on December 9, 2023.

Irish Eyes Smile on College Athletics?

August 29, 2022August 29, 2022DouglasTHillLeave a comment

Imagine my surprise when I was spinning the satellite (metaphorically speaking, of course) and spotted Nebraska and Northwestern playing football … in Dublin, Ireland! A week before I thought the 2022 college football season was to begin!

Yet, there were Wildcats’ coach Pat Fitzgerald and Cornhuskers’ coach Scott Frost patrolling their respective sidelines in Aviva Stadium (ordinarily home to the Irish rugby union team).

What gives?

Well, it seems there were supposed to have been two previous college games played in Dublin. In 2020 Navy-Notre Dame was to have been the first and last year Illinois-Nebraska was scheduled. Both were victims of the pandemic.

Certainly, there have been occasional regular-season college football games that are played at neutral sites (typically NFL stadiums), but this is the first I’ve heard of an international non-friendly. College basketball will be doing the same later this year when the University of Michigan plays the University of Kentucky in London, England (December 4th).

I’m all for higher education’s learning abroad programs. Heck, I’m even for the college athletic teams that take international tours during summer recess. That said, I’ve always believed something as unique to the American experience as college athletics should be contested on college campuses.

The game in Dublin was originally scheduled for Ryan Field in Evanston, IL, and was one of only four home B1G games scheduled on campus this fall. As a result of taking the game to Ireland, Northwestern got plenty of money (as a private institution it is not required to disclose this figure; read more about the makings of the game here) and uncontested media coverage (it was the only major conference game scheduled and was in FOX Sports’ marquee early afternoon timeslot), but in so doing the university deprived the vast majority of its student body from experiencing a Saturday at Ryan Field against not only a conference but also a B1G divisional foe.

I can appreciate Northwestern’s desire to capitalize on the free media and whatever truckload of money the Irish Bureau of Tourism and FOX Sports dumped at its doorstep. I also appreciate the fact that Northwestern’s fall term doesn’t begin until the third week of September and the Wildcats’ traveling party was lingering overseas all day Sunday before flying back Monday morning.

What I’m having a hard time reconciling, however, is the University of Nebraska’s complicity in the event. Per this USA Today article the Cornhuskers’ athletic department received $250,000 and its travel costs covered. Sure, it received the same unencumbered media spotlight (bet Coach Frost wants that dimmed now, doesn’t he), but at what cost? The team traveled out the first week of classes in Lincoln, left immediately after the game Saturday night, and has classes Monday morning, and a home game against the University of North Dakota this Saturday.

I’m not naive enough to think big-time college athletics is really about the college part, but this idea of travling nine-plus hours across six time zones during the first week of the academic year (in Nebraska’s case) to play a regular-season football game is terrible precedent. The same can be said for Michigan and Kentucky’s upcoming game which is scheduled one week before the fall term final exams begin.

If I’m a Wolverines or Wildcats’ student, I want this game on campus where I have a more realistic shot to be there. And, frankly, the same goes for all the made-for-TV pre-conference games that pit major powers against one another in NBA arenas across the country. If I’m a Gonzaga student, I sure would love to see some of the opponents the Bulldogs always seem to be zig-zagging the country to play (this year Michigan State in San Diego on an aircraft carrier and Baylor in Sioux Falls, SD).

Sure, these games are great for schlubs like me sitting in our well-worn living room recliner, but we really need to ensure the college campus experience remains the focal point of college athletics.