NCAA History Guide

The College Baseball World Series takes place in June.

The NCAA and college sports are key players in the American sports landscape. Television contracts and merchandise rights have made the NCAA a tycoon organization reaching almost a billion dollars in revenue last year. They compete seasonally with the NFL, NBA, and NHL throughout the academic year, which is also the heights of American sports coverage. But the untapped season for NCAA athletics is the summer.

Continue reading “Will the NCAA Have Summer Sports?” »

It’s one of the most magical times of the year- college bowl season! Call me crazy, but I’ll take the Rose Bowl over the Super Bowl any day. This year had so many close games (even more than we expected) and was truly a thrilling time for college football fans. It wasn’t easy, but we picked our favorites- the ones that thrilled, entertained, and kept us watching until the end. Agree? Disagree? Let us know in the comments below.

5. Belk Bowl

Okay, so this one probably won’t make anyone else’s list of top bowl games, but let me explain. My wife and I spent New Year’s in Asheville at a bed and breakfast called the Orchard Inn, and I ended up watching this game with a bunch of die-hard Tar Heels fans. Since I didn’t get to make it to any games this year, this was the closest I came to the fan frenzy, and it felt good. Plus- bonus points for seeing a safety in a bowl game!

Continue reading “Our 5 Favorite Bowl Games” »

As we begin week three of college football, it is safe to say the season is in full-swing, which means college football fans’ lives are now revolving around the game. Die-hard fans know that Saturday is all about football and some are even taking days off work to follow their favorite team to away games. While the games are the primary focus of the season, there is a lot more to it. College football is also about tailgating and the stadiums.

Continue reading “The Best of the Best College Football Stadiums” »

Well, this is one that doesn’t happen all too often. An NCAA football player is faced with a seemingly impossible choice- NFL football or Rhodes Scholarship? In a stereotype-defying turn of events, the smartest player on Michigan State University’s football team is also one with a bright future in football. So when it comes to a career on Wall Street vs. a career on the field, what’s a 21 year old to do?

That decision is the one facing Mike Sadler right now, as he embarks on a quest for a PhD in economics while simultaneously considering his punting prospects in the NFL. Sadler graduated in 3 years from MSU with a degree in applied engineering sciences, while maintaining a perfect 4.0 grade point average. Meanwhile, he also kept up with the rigorous training schedule of a starting football player, and averaged a league-leading 43.3 yards per punt and placed 40% of punts within the opposing 20 over the last 2 seasons.

Continue reading “A Scholar Among Us” »

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.

Continue reading “The NCAA Fate in Football” »

While rifling through old files on my computer, I came across a pretty old post about Les Miles and LSU. Time sure flies. And, he’s still head coach of the LSU football team, which I suppose isn’t that much of a surprise, but still worth mentioning if you didn’t think he would be (or just don’t know who he is). Just for fun, here’s the post:

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…

Continue reading “In College Football History: Les Miles” »

Okay, you’ve probably heard it enough by now – Alabama won the BCS championship. As much as I was rooting for the underdog, the outcome wasn’t much of a surprise. The only negative about it was listening to my stepdad walk around the house shouting “Roll Tide Roll!” and “Back to Back!” After about 2 or 25 times, it gets old. I can’t blame him for being excited, though. Having back-to-back championships is an impressive accomplishment. Nick Saban gets a pat on the back.

Continue reading “Roll Tide Roll!” »

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.

Continue reading “Importance of College Football to Our Troops” »

Oh, football season. A time when students and families wait in long lines, crowd bars, and gather in parking lots on Saturdays to watch the teams they’re rooting for (hopefully) dominate the opposing team. People spend money on team gear, food, accessories, and travel. If you take a look around stadiums, you’ll see waves of the team colors, painted faces, colored hair, and all sorts of outfits signaling strong team spirit.

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?

Continue reading “Disappointed Football Fans” »

I tried to have a normal lunch today, but there was no way to do it. After three minutes of banter with a friend he inevitably asked me, “So what do you think about the Penn State situation?”

Damn. I really thought I would be able to just eat a sandwich and move on with my day. No such luck. I instead forced myself to probe my feeble brain for what I thought of the whole thing, something I had avoided until then. And here’s what came to my mind:

1. Bobby Bowden just backed his way back into the record books.
2. A lot of kids who had nothing to do with the whole situation have effectively had their accomplishments wiped clean (not that I think this matters much, everyone still remembers the Fab Five)
3. Recruiting just got a lot easier for east coast teams and Big Ten foes, in particular Ohio State
4. Prepare for the transfer exodus