- For the second week in a row I will start with a non-sports take. The Oscars were held last night in Hollywood and while I never watch the ceremonies closely (I’ll get to that in a minute), I do like to predict the major 6 award winners – Best Picture, Director, Actor, Actress, Supporting Actor and Supporting Actress. Most years I put in some research, look at trends, follow the Golden Globes and make my picks. And most every year I get five out of six correct. There’s always that one award that goes against the grain and snags me every time. This year, my research was non-existent and it showed in my picks. I couldn’t decide on the three close categories – Director, Picture and Actor. I assumed that Director and Picture would be tied together as they usually are and it came down to “Birdman” or “Boyhood”. As far as Best Actor went it would come down to the two Golden Globe winners, Michael Keaton for “Birdman” or Eddie Redmayne for “The Theory of Everything”. My thought processes was that Richard Linklater would be rewarded for his innovation and receive the Academy Award for Picture and Director. At the same time, I thought that “Birdman” wouldn’t get shut out and that Keaton would win for Best Actor. Wrong on both accounts. I wish I understood the premise of having an Awards show that only gives out two major awards within the first two hours! Living in the Eastern Time zone it’s almost midnight before the good awards are presented. I’m an old man and can’t stay up that late. Fix it!
- All the planets have aligned and we are finally getting the Floyd Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao fight in May. Yawn. It’s two years too late. I recognize that the fight will still draw a mass of pay-per-view buys and that’s really what this fight is all about anyway. But fans wanted to see these two fight at their apex and that moment has passed us by. It is a shame that they got caught up in minutiae and robbed us of them at their peak. I won’t watch.
- Another big story this week was the B1G conference stating they were “considering” a proposal that would force incoming freshmen to redshirt in order to adjust to college life. This reeks of hypocrisy on so many levels. First and foremost, these are the same conferences who have added member schools to make them larger in order to have a conference championship in football…which makes them MORE money. Second, this also allows the conferences to secure TV funding for a conference specific station….which makes them MORE money. And now you’re going to tell me that you care about the student-athlete enough to force them to sit out a year? Idiocy. Kids get it now. They understand that college athletics is their minor leagues and realize that if the schools are going to exploit them for money making initiatives then the students will turn around and use the schools to help them get to the professional levels. It’s ridiculous. And we haven’t even mentioned that this initiative would have to be across the board for every conference. At the same time, college basketball would suffer because I don’t see the NBA changing the “must go to college for one year” rule. That is completely incompatible with this proposal. Stop insulting our intelligence.
- The NFL combine is taking place in my hometown of Indianapolis as we speak. I find the combine interesting on so many levels. It reinforces the fact that the NFL is first a business because all of these coaches and GM’s want to make sure they get ample reward for their investment. But I also believe that the drills and such can be overvalued. Look at Tom Brady. His combine showing was mediocre at best. But he’s a winner. I love the following video synching Marcus Mariota and Jameis Winston in the 40-yard dash. The Tampa Bay Buccaneers have the #1 overall pick in the draft and they are completing their due diligence on both QB’s. but many scouts can get caught up in the “measurables”. If that were the case, Mariota would be the consensus #1 pick. He ran faster, jumped higher, tested better and so forth. But then they threw. At that’s where Jameis showed his ability. It’s such an inexact science which is why it’s so fascinating.
Post by Will Brinson.
- Sunday was the 35th anniversary of the Miracle on Ice. This is the greatest upset in sports history and I’m not sure there can ever be anything to replace it. At this point in my life, it’s hard to comprehend that this even took place 35 years ago. I was 11 and remember where I was when I heard that the Americans had won. It was the early game and was being tape delayed for TV. We found out over the radio that the US had beaten the Russians and we went crazy. We still watched it and sat at the edge of our seats the entire game even though we knew the outcome. More than anything it was uplifting for us as a nation because we were getting our teeth kicked in on the news every night. Iran and Russia were bullying us (and others), gas prices and availability were poor, and it was just a depressing time in our nation. And the face that a sports team could lift up entire nation just shows the power of sports. Do I believe in miracles? Yes!
- The most active trade deadline in NBA history took place this last week. 37 players, not including picks, were swapped between teams. It was fun to watch…except for the fact that the Pacers did nothing. This was a bad move on Larry Bird’s part and I think it will come back to haunt him for years to come. Point guards were available (Dragic, Lawson) and this was an opportunity to pounce and begin to rebuild with youth around a recuperating Paul George. But Larry stood still. West, Hibbert and George could have been moved to clear cap space, acquire assets, and obtain draft picks to reform the monster.
- The NHL continued the 2015 Stadium Series this weekend with a tilt in the newly constructed Levi’s Stadium in San Jose where the hometown Sharks took on the Los Angeles Kings. Aside from the facts that the game is in a warm weather location and that the stadium is so large that fans aren’t close to the action at all, the daring of the LA Kings to wear white pants with a white jersey totally threw everyone for a loop. They looked like pajamas. Awful.
- Speaking of Los Angeles, apparently the San Diego Chargers and the Oakland Raiders are teaming up to build a joint stadium in LA. I’m sure the NFL loves this as they’d rather have two teams in the second largest market in the US than just one. But it’s the details that I’m fascinated with in this scenario.
If the Chargers and Raiders both move to LA, one would go to the NFC. I'm hearing both would be OK with it in order to make the move happen.
— Arash Markazi (@ArashMarkazi) February 20, 2015
- Here's where it gets interesting. The NFL does not want an unbalanced conference or an unbalanced schedule. which means a team in the NFC would have to move to the AFC in order to facilitate this move by the Chargers and the Raiders. Let's look at the NFC West - the Seahawks and 49ers are such bitter rivals at this point I can't see either one of them moving. The Cardinals are intriguing, but there's also the rumors of the Rams wanting to move to LA as well. As two of the older teams in the NFL it's going to be hard to ask one of them to leave for the AFC. At the same time, I would think the Chargers would move to the NFC, if for no other reason than the rivalries with the Raiders and the Broncos and Chiefs are too strong from the AFL days. I anxiously await to see how this plays out...
Until next time,
Shawn
@illini3sc
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