College Sports

China’s government has denied attempting to politicize the Olympic process, after receiving a letter from the International Olympic Committee (IOC) expressing regret over remarks made about Tibet and the Dalai Lama.

Tibet’s Communist Party boss, Zhang Qingli, was speaking at a ceremony honoring the Olympic torch as it passed through Lhasa. The remarks came at a ceremony marking the reuniting of the flame with a separate flame that had been carried to the top of Mount Everest. He reasserted China’s hard line on supporters of the Dalai Lama, the Tibetan spiritual leader who has been in exile in India.

“The sky above Tibet will never change,” said Zhang. “The red five-star flag will always fly above this land. We can definitely smash the separatist plot of the Dalai Lama clique completely.”

So, China is accused of politicizing the Olympics, the world’s largest sporting stage?

Duh!

Isn’t that what virtually every nation has done since the era of the Modern Olympics has begun? Isn’t that what Hitler did in 1936? Isn’t that what the Soviets were doing in 1980 (even though there was a U.S.-led boycott)? And the L.A. Olympics in 1984 also had a jingoistic flavor (despite a reciprocal USSR-led boycott).

The Olympics provide a stage for nations to say, “Look at us! Look what we can do, what we have done!” But because China’s policies are so militaristic in form, so strident and outspoken in speech, it has a magnifying glass over it. The IOC “tut-tuts” and shakes it’s head. “Not what we expected, we are disappointed,” the organizers cluck.

Where were these people when the decision was made to place the Olympics in China? Did they not have any idea that China would use the Games as a “coming out” party? Did they think by sending the Olympics to China, it’s human rights atrocities would simply vanish? That the nation would think, “Hey, let’s clean up our act and get with the democratic program!”

Sheesh, my five year old could have seen this one coming!

Georgia’s bulldog mascot, UGA VI, passed away last week of congestive heart failure. He died at his home in Savannah.

Now normally I would probably not write about a mascot… especially one at a rival school. But Uga is different.

Uga (the name is pronounced uhg-uh, and is a reference to Georgia’s school initials, UGa), is probably the best known mascot in the nation. He has been proclaimed the nation’s best by no less than Sports Illustrated. The lineage, English bulldog, is secure, according the the University.

Uga VI was heavier than any previous Georgia mascot at 65 pounds. He outweighed his dad by 20 pounds. He first took the field for the Bulldogs when he was less than a year old, in 1999. During his tenure, Georgia’s football team won two SEC Championships (2002 and 2005)and had a record of 87-27.

But football was not the only arena where Georgia saw success during Uga VI’s reign. All told, 19 of Georgia’s 33 national championships came during this period.

Here are some quotes on the passing of Uga VI:

“This is a very sad day for the entire Bulldog Nation. Uga has always been such a strong figure associated the University of Georgia nationwide. Uga VI was a damn good mascot and a damn good dog. He was an outstanding representative of our fine institution.” Athletic Director Damon Evans.

“Uga VI served with extraordinary courage and heart as a beloved University of Georgia mascot. He was a true symbol of the toughness and competitiveness of our athletic teams, and was a rallying figure for the entire Bulldog Nation.” University of Georgia President Dr. Michael F. Adams

“Uga VI was indeed a damn good dog. Alumni of all ages had a special relationship with him, and he always drew a crowd of alumni faithful, whether at the Sugar Bowl, the Homecoming Parade, or simply walking into Sanford Stadium before leading us to victory. We will miss him and all he stood for.” Trey Paris, President of the Georgia Alumni Association

Like all previous Uga’s, Uga VI will be buried in a marble vault in the Southwest corner of Sanford Stadium, Georgia’s football stadium, with his predecessors.

At last, Big 10 fans living in the Big 10 states will actually be able to get the Big 10 Network (BTN).

Comcast, the leading cable provider in seven of the eight states where Big 10 schools are located, came to an agreement with the BTN that will provide access to the network beginning August 15, just in time for kickoff.

The seven states included are Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin. Iowa, the eighth Big 10 state, does not have any Comcast subscribers.

BTN had been holding out for $1.10 per customer and wanted to be on basic cable packages. They settled for 70 cents per customer and will be on expanded basic in the seven states. Outside of that region, Comcast has the option of placing the network on it’s Sports Entertainment Network or other service tiers.

BTN is owned by the Big 10 Conference and Fox Cable Networks. It is groundbreaking in the fact that it is the first network owned by a conference, although other conferences are now looking into starting their own networks. BTN covers all sports offered on the conference level, giving broadcast views to sports that rarely get it.

As I said in a previous article (Big 10 Network: A Bad Idea Gone Worse) , this idea will probably snowball, and the sports fan will pay and pay and pay. We’ve already been priced out of the stadiums and arenas. Corporate money trumps Joe College Alum any day. But in the hunt for the $$$, the “Show me the money” mentality has taken over.

So stay tuned, America. Next up? SEC-TV. Pac10-a-vision. Big East Coast Bias TV. You name it, you’ll pay for it!

After a long, long college baseball season, it’s all come down to tonight’s game. Fresno State vs. Georgia. Bulldogs vs. Bulldogs. Big Red vs. Big Red.

Both teams have great stories. FSU fought through a region where it was seeded fourth, and became the first regional four seed ever to advance to the championship round. Georgia finished last year with a losing record, but won the SEC regular season, and became the first team with a losing record the prior year to advance to the championship round.

Tonight’s game is one of those classic matchups where you don’t want to see anyone lose. You know both teams are playing on heart as much as ability.

First pitch is just minutes away, on ESPN at 7 p.m. EDT. Catch it!

I was sitting in front of my computer screen, reading about the College World Series and getting a little sad that the Championship will end the college sports season until fall. My five year old was upstairs watching cartoons, when she called to me that something had happened to the TV.

Since it has been on the fritz lately, I figured, “Here we go again,” and went upstairs. But the TV was fine. TiVo had just changed the channel to begin recording something, a program it had picked up on from my list of keywords.

And that’s when I knew that college sports never really ends, it just goes into reruns.

Because there, in front of my eyes, was Peyton Manning, University of Tennessee, getting ready to take on Alabama, circa 1996.

Yes, CSTV and Tivo to the rescue!

CSTV (College Sports Television) runs old football games year round, but is starting to ramp it up to get us through the long, hot summer. And I say, Bring it on! And part of the fun of the old games on CSTV is that it is the entire original broadcast, complete with updates on scores from games that same day. OK, the commercials are current, but that is small potatoes.

Who needs to worry about the future, when you (with a little help from CSTV) can live in the past!

Georgia Tech men’s basketball coach Paul Hewitt was listening to the Knight Commission as committee members highlighted the NCAA’s rating system that penalizes teams that don’t meet certain academic standards.

The Knight Commission is an independent group that has been pursuing academic reform in athletics for more than 20 years.

In the most recent Academic Progress Report (APR), 218 teams from 123 schools received penalties of some sort. Scores have risen steadily since the APR was introduced four years ago

APR scores have been on the rise since the standard was introduced four years ago, but not all are happy with the method used to achieve the results. Coach Hewitt’s name heads the list.

“I do have a problem with putting numbers out there, saying ‘Meet these numbers or else,” Hewitt said. “You’re turning education into a race.”

Hewitt’s fear is that coaches, pressed to keep grades up to keep from losing scholarships, will steer their athletes into easier classes, away from the hard stuff that could actually help the player move toward graduation.

Hewitt came armed with ideas for improvement. He thinks that basketball should be a one semester sport, and a move toward a shorter season and schedule. He also is smart enough to know that the money involved will keep that from ever happening.

And therein lies the rub. The NCAA, once again, wants it all. We want our student-athletes to graduate, they say. Academic progress must be met, they bellow.

Shorten the season? Lose money? Uh, nope, not gonna do it.

The NCAA may want to take the high road, but it’s hard to do when the road is paved with dollar bills. As long as TV is driving the truck, the NCAA will be at their mercy. And the coaches and athletes will keep paying the price.

Jim McKay, the legendary voice of ABC sports, has died at age 86. He passed away of natural causes at his farm in Monkton, Md., according to his son Sean McManus, head of CBS News and Sports.

The man who enjoyed horse racing as his favorite sport died just hours before the Belmont Stakes, the third and final leg of the Triple Crown.

He will always be remembered for anchoring the 1972 Munich Olympics, when Israeli athletes were taken hostage and eventually murdered. I will never forget, at age 14, seeing his face, hearing the heartbreak in his voice, and knowing that somehow the world had changed a bit that day. His words, “They’re all gone,” will resonate for generations, whenever the horrors of Munich are remembered.

His voice was also the Saturday afternoon staple for ABC’s Wide World of Sports. Who can forget “The Thrill of Victory, and the Agony of Defeat?” He hosted the popular show for four decades, beginning in 1961. In the days before sports on 100 cable channels, when most people got only three channels on their TV sets, Wide World of Sports set a standard that ESPN will never capture.

But beyond all of the platitudes, McKay was a fan of sports, of athletes. He traveled more than four million miles covering over 100 sports of all types. He was also the first sportscaster to win an Emmy.

I’m going to miss McKay. He has been a commentator on the Olympics, even when it jumped to NBC. He would handle interviews and special “Up Close and Personal” segments.

I hope he isn’t the last of a generation of sportscasters who loved the games, who cared about the fans. McKay was special and he will be missed.

The Southeastern Conference is considering starting it’s own network, much like the Big Ten has done.

Based on the reviews of the BTN, I hope the SEC reconsiders, or at the very least learns from the mistakes of their northern sports brethren.

The Big Ten Network is a huge disappointment to fans of those teams. Why? Because so few cable companies picked up the network that most fans never get a chance to see the games.

Oddly enough, I get the Big 10 Network here in the south on my cable company. My husband, a card-carrying Big 10 fan, was thrilled when we got the channel. He gets to watch his beloved Michigan State Spartans much more often, and he also gets to catch the coaches shows in both football and basketball. But I venture to say that he is one of about 20 people in town who watch the channel, and it is rarely watched, at that. Talk about niche programing!

Then we were shocked when we visited his family in East Lansing, Mich. (home of the Spartans) and found out that not only do they not get the BTN, most of the state doesn’t!

So I looked deeper into the whole thing and found out some interesting facts:

• The Big Ten Network is 51% owned by the Big Ten, and 49% owned by Fox.
• Fox also owns part of DirecTV, which is the only major video provider with an agreement to carry the Big Ten Network.
• Cable companies in the eight-state Big Ten region are being asked to pay $1.10 per customer per month. At that rate, the Big Ten Network could conceivably make $237 million each year from the Big Ten states alone! As a comparison, ESPN-U costs 10 cents per viewer per month, ESPN costs $2.49, and CSTV (College Sports TV) costs 18 cents per viewer.
• Cable companies outside of the Big Ten region are being asked to pay 10 cents per customer, per month. (this explains why I have the network and my hubby’s family doesn’t)
• Many of the games that the Big Ten Network carried this past season were previously carried free on broadcast television or cable networks already in place.
• The Big Ten Network is asking to be carried as part of the standard cable package, so viewers will pay whether or not they want the channel.

(NOTE: The figures above were gathered from various sources, and may have changed… although not greatly)
Just a quick look around various fan boards online and you will quickly see that the Big Ten Network is not fan-friendly. For the most part, the fans who matter hate it.

And as much as I hate to admit it, I think this is just another brick in the wall of college sports. Money is the driving force behind so many decisions made in the AD’s offices. Stadiums that sell out every game, every year are being “remodeled” and ticket prices shoot up. I’m sorry, but if the stadium seats 90,000 to 110,000 fans, at anywhere from $35-$55 a pop seven times a year, well, you do the math! A conservative estimate would be $30 plus million at the “big dog” schools. Oh, and that isn’t taking into account parking, concessions, memorabilia, etc. (and to be fair, I’m not taking into account the outlay such as scholarships, salaries, insurance, etc.)
I realize that football funds most other sports on campuses. But this is getting way out of hand… out of the fans hands.

What happens when a stadium is renovated? They take out 10 or 20 thousand seats and put in “luxury boxes” that seat a lot less, but cost a lot more. You ever look in those boxes at games? Heck, most the time the folks aren’t even watching.

And what happened with the Big Ten Network deal. More money, less availability to the average fan.

So folks, we were being priced out of the stadiums, and now we are being priced out of even watching the games at home.

Being a fan just costs too much!