The NCAA is often criticized for its commercialism and lack of true collaboration. With the NCAA-run March Madness tournament just completed, however, it’s hard to imagine a world of college sports in which the NCAA does not play a pivotal role. In football, on the other hand, strides are being made that just might change the relationship between universities, conferences, and the NCAA.

The first, seemingly unimportant, development is the branding of the new College Football Playoff. The new format, set to debut after the 2014 regular season, hopes to resolve some of the arguments for reform that have become increasingly prevalent in the last several years. The logo has just been chosen this week, and the gaining momentum for the new playoff leads to a startling realization: unlike the championships for nearly every other college sport, the branding of the College Football Playoff features no mention of the NCAA. This may in fact be a deliberate choice. As college football seeks to reformat their playoff process, they may also be looking to refocus on college football, rather than the NCAA.

Another interesting development is the recent media deal struck by the SEC and ESPN. The SEC, one of the most important and influential football conferences, just signed a contract with ESPN to debut a channel strictly for SEC-sports, and the conference will receive a portion of the profits. The independent media negotiations of individual conferences has highlighted the fact that conferences, and the schools in them, are not financially dependent on the NCAA.

While the NCAA does argue that it remains relevant as a standardizing body for collegiate sports, it will be interesting to see how its relationship with schools and conferences develops in the coming years. What do you think- is there still a place for the NCAA in college football?

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Home fitness programs – P90x and others

A home fitness program is always a great economical solution; with so many videos and dvds out there, training at home is easy. I personally recommend P90x as it is a great program that really hits all areas as it includes weight lifting, cardio, stretching and yoga. The dvds are only around $100 – cheaper if you get them used and you’ll only need to spend another $70 or so for workout bands, a pullup bar and yoga mat.

An alternative to P90x is Insanity. This program focuses more on cardio, so you’re going to have to supplement this with another weights workout separately. Of course there are a ton of different dvd sets that you can get. There has also been a massive surge in fitness apps, so if you have a smart phone, I’d recommend checking the selection to see if anything looks interesting.

Crossfit

Crossfit has a huge following with different “workout of the days”. It’s an intense regime as you are working out every day. But if you want to look great, this is an excellent way to go. The down side to this program is that you’ll have to shell out a little more on some weights or a gym membership for lifting some of the heavier weights. P90x doesn’t have this disadvantage as you use bands and body weight for resistance.

Group sports

During the off season you could play a different sport that is less demanding. Sports like Ultimate Frisbee or Casual Football can be fun and a great way to meet people. These typically have less serious leagues that you can join and stay fit over the off-season.

There are plenty of options to workout and stay fit over the off-season. The best thing to do is to experiment and find what works best for you. Good luck!

About the author: Edwin is a huge fitness fan currently working at 9th sphere – a leading web development company in Toronto. He is a big fan of exercising for cheap to spend money on other things.

Most active people have problems coping with injuries because they are not used to reduced activity. Some even refuse to admit they are injured and they continue with activities that make the injury worse. Several things can be done to cope with a sports injury.

1. Admit you are injured

The first thing you need to do is to admit you are injured and thus you cannot do most of the things you do every day. If you are an athlete, this means that you should not attempt to compete if you have an injury, however slight, as you risk making it worse. Admitting it will also help you to get help. Do not assume that the injury will just ‘heal itself’.

2. Get the right treatment

You need to get the best treatment for the injury, and that means getting immediate and proper medical treatment. Do not try to fix it yourself or ignore it,hoping the pain will go away. Failure to get the right treatment can make the situation much worse and you can end up with a permanent injury.

3. Remain connected

Remaining cooped up in your room or staying away from your teammates will not help the healing process. Feeling sorry for yourself will not help the situation and can actually make it worse. The mind is a powerful weapon and when you dwell on negative thoughts, it can affect your treatment process. Staying connected will motivate you and allow your mind to remain positive.

4. Keep your mind occupied

Keep your mind busy to avoid dwelling on the pain or the injury. Research has shown those who maintain some level of activity heal much faster than those who are just anxious. Instead of thinking of your inability to perform, look for what you can do and focus your mind and actions on that area.

5. Stay healthy

It is important to take care of your health by following a nutritious diet and drinking plenty of water. Do not sit around eating pizza and expect to recover fast. You can also take organic sports supplements that can give you energy and help you in the recovery process.

Schedule

This year’s complete schedule, courtesy of the NCAA website, is as follows:

• First Four – March 19-20
• Second/Third Rounds – March 21-24
• Regionals – March 28-31
• Final Four – April 6 & 8

Content

If you’ve missed some games, want to research some teams, or just need to kill some time, the NCAA website has everything you need, including plays of the week. The Div. I rankings are here, and by the looks of it, this year’s competition will be as fierce as ever. Gonzaga currently is in the lead with 51 first-place votes, followed by Indiana and Duke. Kansas is #4, but no first-place votes for them, so if you’re a fan you’d better be extra decked out in your Jayhawk apparel and showing support. Georgetown, at #5, has two first-place votes.

And, according to the current numbers on the poll on the March Madness official homepage, 72% of respondents (about 10,300 people) do not think a number 1 seed will win this year’s Division I men’s basketball championship. Hmmmm.

Humor

And, in regard to losing teams, I hope to see more comments from grandmothers like this one – although her grandson played high school ball, it doesn’t matter. It’s still so awesome. And, college students aren’t that much older. Although the NCAA tournament is taken pretty seriously, and food good reason, the players still are very young adults.

Anyway, enough with the serious business…let the games begin!

Les is More, Sorta

This week LSU announced they had extended the contract through 2010, bumping his annual salary from $1.25 million in 2005 to $1.65 million in 2006. This seems to me like a bit of a kneejerk reaction on behalf of LSU and am not sure that Miles is a proven commodity that would warrant a raise after a great season with Nick Saban’s players. I for one really enjoyed his sideline antics and moments of panic during the Tennessee loss last year. Deer meet headlights, headlights meet deer…

Let’s look at Miles’ coaching history. His career record prior to LSU at Oklahoma State was 28-21 with 3 bowl appearances (two were losses including a Cotton bowl loss to Ole Miss). After LSU went through a laundry list of candidates (including our boy Nutt) they snagged Miles just in time before the Oklahoma State program imploded with massive problems such as player defections, player suspensions and some really bad players in general.

I for one will be glad to see Les on the LSU sideline for a few more years. He has Jimbo Fisher and Bo Pelini helping him taking care of things, so as long as he doesn’t do anything too stupid LSU should be ok for another year or two, but expect whispers of a slight drop-off in recruiting to begin to emerge just as they did at OSU.

Now, 8 years later (has it really been that long?), Les gets $3.75 million each year, plus other incentives. And his contract was extended yet again. Incredible. Also, since I mentioned them, look where Bo and Jimbo are (as an aside, that’s slightly funny to say together – Bo and Jimbo) – surely not donning LSU gear anymore. I haven’t read up on Jimbo lately, but I have heard about Bo’s bad attitude.

Anyway, I recently read this article about Alabama football domination and I agree with what it has to say. Alabama is known for being great, I know they love winning, but when the same team gets the same distance every year, it gets a little stale. We saw some exciting things with Texas A&M (even a Heisman winner), but let’s face it – the SEC typically has the best teams, the Big 10 typically isn’t that great (except perhaps OSU and Michigan), and the last thing anyone wants is for games to start to become predictable. Sure, it’s great when it’s your team that’s winning, but close games where players on both sides work really hard are the best ones.

I’m a hockey fan, and although the same teams tend to make the playoffs every year (such as the Red Wings), there have been a lot of surprises over the years, and that’s part of what makes the sport so exciting. Anyhow, it will be interesting to see what next year brings as far as NCAA football. I’m sure my stepdad will still be donning his Alabama BCS champions t-shirt. For now I’ll focus on college basketball. March Madness isn’t too far away.

As college basketball became more popular and commercialized, players found it more difficult to function as both player and student. This was a real problem especially for lower class, less educated, talented teenagers. They were paying for an education where they weren’t learning as much as they ought and not being paid for their athletic abilities.

In the late 60’s, The American Basketball Association began to recruit and pay players who had not yet graduated college. Spencer Haywood was one of those players. He spent one year at junior college before going on to the University of Detroit. From there, he went to be part of the USA Olympic team, where he helped his team earn a Gold medal. Upon returning, he signed into the ABA to play for the Denver Rockets. Then, against all previous NBA rules, he signed to play professionally with the Seattle SuperSonics- all before his college graduation.

Today, it isn’t uncommon for players to skip college altogether before making a break for a professional career. Examples of these all-star players include Kobe Bryant, Dwight Howard, Tracy McGrady, LeBron James and Shawn Kemp. Others play just one year of college ball. Good examples are Kevin Durant and Greg Oden. Now, out of the 60 players drafted every year, only a dozen or so have college degrees. It’s safe to say that, in the past few decades, the connection between the NCAA and the NBA has become incredibly different.

The wide variety of college athletic teams in the organization now is huge compared to the starting point of the organization. Any guesses as to what one event started the NCAA? It all started with one rowing competition between two top schools: Harvard and Yale.

Rowing remained the dominant sport through the late-1800s. It was common for schools to settle debates on athletic ability purely through rowing competitions. As other sports began to gain in popularity, they too were inducted into the arena of college sports. Basketball and football were among the two most rapidly emerging sports in the nation. The actual formation of the NCAA dates back to the early-1900s when President Theodore Roosevelt called a meeting to lay ground rules and regulations for football to ensure safety of future players. As it stood, some athletes who had participated in the game had been severely injured and even killed.

After a White House meeting involving 13 colleges and universities, regulations within the game of football were carefully reviewed and underwent significant changes. After this meeting, 62 institutions became members of the Intercollegiate Athletic Association of the United States (IAAUS) which was established officially on March 31, 1906. It took it’s present name, the NCAA, in 1910.

However, at this point, there were no established women’s athletics within the NCAA. This did not occur until the 1980s. Instead of including women’s college athletics in the NCAA, they had previously been part of the Association for Intercollegiate Athletics for Women (AIAW). Finally, in 1982, every division of the NCAA provided funding for national championship events for women’s athletics. After this, most members of the AIAW became members of the NCAA. Today, there is even one member of the NCAA who is a non-US member: Simon Fraser University in Burnaby, Canada.

With pastimes and hobbies being limited overseas for our dedicated troops, there remains one constant, strong interest for all troops: college football. One of the most popular items sent in care packages for soldiers from fellow Americans safe at home are footballs. This surely has to say something for how passionate these men are about one of America’s favorite pass times.

When one watches the masses of people that assemble for rivalry college football games and, on a larger scale, the gargantuan crowd that appears for the Super Bowl, it’s hard to imagine that the sport of football began in small, elite colleges, making the sport virtually unknown to the rest of the United States. Amazingly enough, it is almost solely due to the armed forces that football has attracted so talented athletes, dedicated fans and gained, tremendous overall success.

The popularization of football as a college sport started when the military began implementing and developing the rules and regulations we use in football today. As football leagues were just beginning, it was known as a violent sport between Yale and Harvard. This was in 1869. It wasn’t until 1882 that the military stepped in with the goal to make the sport an instrument for military education. Football soon began forming leagues around the country at 19 army bases.

Originally, military teams and college teams played each other. Due to the fact that players on military teams were often older and stronger, leagues opted to form the first college football league today known as the “Big 10”. Not long after, the NCAA was formed in order to make further rules to aid the game to be played in the safest manner possible.

During World War I, football proved to be a huge morale booster. It was also a great pass time and diversion soldiers in many camps across the U.S. Groups of men on bases formed teams and played full-blown games, which drew crowds from surrounding areas, thereby further promoting the sport.

Though many today may not know the extensive history of football and its actual roots in the military, one can hear this rich history in the terminology the referees use in the game. Examples include “sacking”, “blitzing”, “field generals” and “trench warfare”.

About the author: This guest article was provided by My Team Planet, an online retailer with stores carrying Michigan Wolverines Apparel, Alabama Crimson Tide Apparel and Texas Longhorns Apparel.

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Everything about college football Saturday will start off fun and exciting. The players are excited, the crowd is riled up, and, if it’s an especially great day, the sun will be shining. Students stand up to watch the game, the crowd cheers, and then kickoff happens. As viewers eagerly watch what follows, they cross their fingers and hope their team will play well.

But, losses are inevitable. Sometimes a team, even one that’s doing so well, will lose. Then what happens to the fans?

Well, it’s no surprise fans are disappointed. It’s natural. They will distance themselves away from a team they once shared their bond with. “They list,” they’ll say. They’ll yell and mope and be angry. But there’s something worse than that, and it’s when fans turn on their own team.

We’ve seen fan hatred this season with Michigan State, when people in the stands booed their own team for not doing well. Players and coaches can be pretty hurt by this, and it’s definitely not encouraging. Even more recently, a Georgia linebacker said his home was egged and toilet papered after their loss. The players are especially in a bind because as public figures, they can’t retaliate or say anything out of line. They have to keep their composure and move on, which is the respectable thing to do anyway.

Booing is one thing, but actually damaging the property of a football player or coach is hurtful and inexcusable behavior. It’s understandable for people to be upset, especially if they put a lot of money into seeing a game where their team doesn’t win. But, no games are perfect and fans should know before they travel or buy tickets that there’s a chance their team will lose.

No matter what happens, it’s important to stay loyal to a team through thick and thin. If fans distance themselves, the team loses spirit. When fans keep close and encourage players, the team probably will be more motivated to make a comeback. The phrase “it’s all about positive attitude” is cliche but true. There’s no reason to behave out of line because of a loss.