- State of Oregon > State of Alabama. Salem tops Montgomery, Portland tops Birmingham. Oregon has Crater Lake, Alabama has well, Biloxi. Oregon wins big.
- Duck might not be the toughest mascot, but at least Oregon can decide on one. Unlike the Auburn Tigers/Eagles. Plus, Ducks are original. There are 46 four year colleges that use Tigers (and 74 that use Eagles). Info from this interesting article.
- Autzen Stadium cooler than Jordan-Hare Stadium.
- Oregon's offense is cooler to watch. Makes you tired they move so fast. And anyone can use hand signals and runners, Oregon uses these to call plays:
- I also think there's something dirty about Auburn. I have no proof, but the Newton saga just stinks. If it smells like poop, it just might be poop. And I do believe that Auburn all-world DT Nick Fairley is a dirty player because of his late hits and unnecessary roughness . Mighty talented, but dirty.
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I hate the BCS. TCU won a quality football game against a pretty good Wisconsin team. They finished 13-0. Bowl apologists, please never ever tell me again that every game matters. Obviously it doesn't. A team should not win every game and not get a chance to play for a championship.
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Is College Athletics a Sweatshop?
Interesting read. Continuing the spirit of bulleted lists:
- College Athletes have to do an amazing thing by balancing social, academic and athletic obligations. Greg Strobel, head wrestling coach at Lehigh University told me he tells his athletes they can excel at two of the three, but not all three. So they have to choose. But they also get preferential selection of classes, housing and academic tutors. They have lots of help.
- College football programs generate lots of revenue and the poor athletes get nothing from it. I must apologize and say I do not for one moment feel sorry for a big time football or basketball player. They get equipment, training tables with the best food, per diems and leave college with no debt. You know who's starving? I was. And many of my friends and other regular students who had to work their way through college. You know who else is starving? Collegiate wrestlers, gymnasts, lacrosse players and other minor sport athletes. Please don't tell me, Tyrelle Pryor, that football players can't make it.
- I would not be opposed to paying college athletes on top of their scholarship. It needs to be something universal across the NCAA, or else Texas, Alabama and Notre Dame will become the Yankees of college sports by paying their athletes the most. Maybe something like you can pay college football players $500 per month, minor sports $250.
- I would like to see football and basketball scholarships become more of a loan. If you do not get a degree in 6 years from your first semester (that even lets you go pro and work towards a degree), you are contractually obligated to repay the value of your scholarship. Then maybe we would see more student-athletes in these sports. The ones who are using it for a stepping stone to the pros can then give back to the school that assisted them.
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Final word: As the NFL season winds down, there is a talk of a lockout by the owners. The NBA collective bargaining agreement is expiring soon also. There's lots of things that need to be worked out, but if anyone in the know is reading please remember:- Bureau of Labor Statistics have January 7 unemployment numbers at 9.4 percent.
- Tom Brady is guaranteed 48.5 million in his new contract, $72 million with incentives. I would have to work about 970 years just to reach just his guaranteed money.
- Reggie Bush's 2009 salary was just over $7 million. He ran, caught or returned the football 144 times that year. Basically, he got $48,611 for each time he touched a football.
- US Census data has median US income in 2009 at $49,777.
- If there's a lockout, we'll come back to football eventually. But we'll be hurt because many of us will not understand or be able to relate with millionaires who do not have enough money.
- Some will wonder why, when they cannot find employment, these men who get to play a game for a living do not want to work.
- I hope there is no lockout, because I do love football. But if there's no NFL, I'll ride my bike more, hike after church and pay more attention to the college game.
