guncurug

This quarter's baseball meetings will be memorable for Bud Selig upsetting the natural order of things as he caught the realignment bug from the NCAA.  In order to create more inventory for baseball's television partners, Selig forced the Houston Astros to move to the American League West,  more on that in a moment, added a new wild card team and fundamentally altered inter-league...

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As I was running errands this afternoon, I was listening to Bob Valvano's talk show.  He has an afternoon talk show on the local ESPN affiliate and does an overnight show for ESPN radio on the weekends.  If you don't know Bob, he also does color commentary for ESPN during basketball season, and the occassional football game, as well as the local (Big...

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The NCAA Board of Directors approved a proposal to allow schools to distribute up to $2,000 a year or the full cost of attendance, whichever is less, to student-athletes in "head count" sports, i.e. men's and women's basketball, football, and those in " equivalency sports" who reach the full value of a scholarship. Amazingly, the NCAA Board, which is composed of member university...

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Before I dive into the topic of the post, let me first say a word or two about the absence of recent posting.  I realize it's been a while and I want to apologize for that.  A combination of health issues, all now since resolved, thank you, and family matters have consumed my time for the last couple of months and I just...

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I feel compelled to say something about "The Vest's" departure from tOSU since it has dominated the discussion in American sports this week.  It has even overshadowed to a significant degree the opening of both the NBA Finals and the Stanley Cup Finals (the opener proving just how exciting a 0-0 game can be  the only goal was scored with 16 seconds left...

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The Wilpon brothers, who are majority owners of the New York Mets are in final negotiations with billionaire hedge fund manager David Einhorn to sell a 30-33% interest in the team to him for a reported $200 million.  The deal supposedly includes a provision allowing Einhorn to purchase an additional 27-30% in three years, so that he would then own 60% at the...

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ARTICLEURL Vancouver Canucks fans celebrated long into the night when the Canucks reached the Stanley Cup finals for the first time in 17 years. Fans in Canada also got their first Canadian finalist since 2007, although there are many Maple Leafs and Canadiens fans who just can't bring themselves to root for the west coast upstart.However the Canadian fans sort out their loyalties,...

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The Kentucky Derby is often referred to as the Greatest Two Minutes in Sports and it lived up to its nickname again on Saturday in a race that featured 21-1 shot Animal Kingdom come roaring down the homestretch from out of nowhere to take the garland of roses by almost three lengths.  Animal Kingdom defied not just the betting public but history, by...

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Real Madrid defeated archrival and likely La Liga champion Barcelona 1-0 in the Copa del Rey final, winning the trophy for the first time in 18 years.  So, what do champions do?  They have a parade of course and show off the trophy to their fans.  Here is must see video of the parade.  Keep your eyes on the trophy:ARTICLEURL ...

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It's TV day here at SportsBiz.  The latest TV news is word of the NHL's new TV agreement.  The current agreement with NBC and Versus expiring this year paid about $70 million a year from Versus and no rights fee from NBC.  The NBC deal was a time share arrangement.  When Comcast, the owner of Versus, took over NBC earlier this year, there...

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The early games in the first round of the NBA playoffs have had a little something for everyone.  You've had underdogs winning on the road, close games all around and the return of the Knicks to the playoffs.  The result has been record television ratings for TNT and ESPN/ABC.The reasons for the increase are varied but there is no doubt that having all five...

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LeBron james is going global by going to Boston.  LRMR Marketing, his and Maverick Carter's marketing company is forming a partnership with Fenway Sports Management, a subsidiary of Fenway Sports Group, the holding company formed by John Henry and Tom Werner that owns the Boston Red Sox, the regional cable television channel NESN, 50% of Fenway Roush Racing, a NASCAR racing team and...

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I know I haven't done this in a while but I will try to be a little better about it going forward.  In any event, here is this week's installment, which started on Tuesday but didn't get published until Wednesday:ARTICLEURL NCAA tournament thrives with four networks, ratings best since 2005, although championship game was down from last year's big ratings win (NYT)Analysis of...

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Tonight, we have a national championship game that in some sense presents the dilemma facing the NCAA in microcosm.  On the one hand, you have UConn, a relative power in the game representing the Big East, a BCS member conference, the best conference in basketball and one that is deep in bed with both ESPN and CBS.  It is presided over by a...

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Well, at least you can say Calipari gets a decent return on his money.  Kentucky coach John Calipari has brought a team from a third school to the Final Four, joining former Kentucky and current Louisville coach Rick Pitino as the only men to coach three different schools to the Final Four.  Pitino's Final Fours are still recognized by the NCAA, however, which,...

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The NCAA basketball tournament has been a cultural and financial success for years, funding up to 96% of the NCAA's budget for the last few years and generating huge television ratings.  However, there has always been several elements of controversy that have followed the tournament.  The selection of teams has left some schools feeling cheated as they were not invited and left the...

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There are as many ways to fill out March Madness brackets as there are people filling them out.  In fact, according to the Houston Chronicle, there are 147.5 quintillion ways to fill one out. And that's just the office pool variety.ARTICLEURL The NCAA bracket lends itself to all sorts of quick analysis or examples of different ways of looking at college athletics or...

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The logo for the London 2012 Olympics has been criticized repeatedly since its release in June, 2007, but always because of its design.  It has been called everything from "bloody crap" to worse and most reaction seemed to lean charitably towards saying that it was a reminder of the 80s, not that this was necessarily a good thing mind you. ARTICLEURL However, for all...

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Most Americans, if asked, would tell you that either the New York Yankees or the Dallas Cowboys were the most profitable teams in professional sports and either of those would be a good guess for an American centric audience.  However, those guesses don't take into account the worldwide phenomenon that is global soccer. No sport captures the imagination of sports fans around the...

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Today was decision day in Storrs as the NCAA Committee on Infractions handed down its alleged punishment of the UConn men's basketball program and head coach Jim Calhoun for violations of NCAA rules in the recruitment of Nate Miles and for failing to create an atmosphere of compliance.  The headline sanctions include the suspension of Calhoun for the first three Big East next...

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Marvel comics inspired NBA team covers appeared on ESPN The Magazine's NBA preview edition in the first of the NBA-Marvel partnering efforts.  I'm guessing those covers were a success because the NBA and Marvel have just announced that they are launching a new line of clothing pairing  famous Marvel superheroes with famous NBA teams.  Imagine the Hulk and the Celtics (think green) and...

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Conference realignment is far from over just because the Big Ten announced that it was satisfied stopping at 12 members.  In fact,  the so-called low major Division I conferences may be the next group to undergo reshuffling, as the moratorium on moving up to Division I is drawing to an end and a number of Division II programs are examining the possibility of...

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The Packers may have won the game on the field, but the game on the screen - the battle for the hearts and minds of the TV ad viewers ended in a tie.  The consumer created Doritos ad featuring a guy who pays big for teasing a hungry pug with Dorito chips finished in a tie atop the USA Today Super Bowl Ad...

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To help get you ready for tonight, here are the top 10 ads, as determined by Mae Anderson, business reporter for the AP:BEST BUY: Odd couple Justin Bieber and Ozzy Osbourne will star in the electronics seller's Super Bowl debut in the third quarter that promotes a new program where Best Buy will buy back electronics when customers decide to upgrade. The ad's...

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The first Wednesday of February is the first day of the annual signing period for NCAA Division I football players during which prospective student athletes sign copies of the National Letter of Intent indicating their commitment to attend the school of their choice and fax the letter into the football coach of the chosen school.  It's an annual rite in which we all...

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AEG, the sports and entertainment megafirm, which owns the Los Angeles Galaxy and the Staples Center, among other things, is set to announce a $700 million dollar naming rights deal with Farmers Insurance for a NFL stadium to be built in downtown Los Angeles.  AEG is one of two groups pursuing a NFL team for LA, but this deal certainly pushes it to...

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Jason Bailey, formerly a forward for the Bakersfield Condors, the then ECHL affiliate of the Anaheim Ducks. has filed suit against the Ducks alleging that he was the victim of anti-Semitic treatment while he was a member of the Condors.  The complaint, filed in Orange County, California, names the Ducks, the Condors, Martin Raymond and Mark Pederson, the then head coach and assistant...

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You would think that the Jets would have a lot of fans on Wall Street.  After all, they're a brash, trash talking, media hogging perpetual underdog team that should remind traders of themselves, and well they might.  However, no matter how many Wall Street denizens are actually fans of the Jets, there will be a part of them that will be secretly rooting...

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The great conference realignment that college athletics has been undergoing over the last five or six years, triggered first by the ACC raid on the Big East and most recently by the Big Ten's decision to expand to twelve, has led to some interesting geographic permutations.  A legacy of earlier conference shuffling left the WAC stretching from Hawai'i to that decidedly western state...

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When the farm team of the Dallas Mavericks was in a start-up this past year, co-owner Donnie Nelson was looking for ways to stand out in the Dallas/Frisco Texas market.  The Texas Legends began play in the NBDL this season in Frisco, a suburb of Dallas, about 30 miles north and previously known primarily as the home of the MLS Cup runner-up FC...

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This year's Rose Bowl was memorable for a variety reasons, not the least of which was the win by TCU, at least for this year a representative of non-automatic BCS qualifying schools.  Of course, TCU is joining the Big East, so its representation of the non AQ will be short-lived.The game was also memorable for the still inexplicable call made by Wisconsin coach...

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