Unfair Advantage??

In a recent ruling from the International Association of Athletics Federations, Oscar Pistorius has been ruled ineligible to qualify and compete for the able-bodied Olympics. He had already dominated the paralympic sprint events.

Studies conducted by German professor Gert-Peter Brueggemann were cited by the ruling body as evidence that the prostheses provide him with a competitive advantage.

The New York Times had a fantastic analysis of this sports ethics dilemma.

Should he be able to compete?

Memo to the BCS

To: Acting BCS President; BCS Conference Commissioners, BCS Conference AD’s, BCS Conference School Presidents

From: Dav

Re: Winter Madness

Here are my findings from our 11/19 meeting in which you put me on retainer to find a solution to the quagmire that is major college football. After a full review of past history, financial implications and the burdens on our student-athletes, I’m ready to put forth for your consideration a proposal – a ten team playoff dubbed Winter Madness.

Consider the current BCS Standings.

The top ten teams are:

1. Ohio State (Big Ten Champ)
2. LSU (SEC Champ)
3. Virginia Tech (ACC Champ)
4. Oklahoma (Big 12 Champ)
5. Georgia (SEC At Large)
6. Missouri (Big 12 At Large)
7. USC (PAC 10 Champ)
8. Kansas (Big 12 At Large)
9. West Virginia (Big East Champ)
10. Hawaii (WAC At Large)

Opening Round:

You asked me to preserve the importance of the regular season. In meeting this goal, conference champions will be afforded a first round bye in Winter Madness. The opening round of Winter Madness will be the third Saturday in December, after first semester final exams have concluded. These games will be home game sites for the higher ranked team. This year, #5 Georgia will host #10 Hawaii and #6 Missouri will host #8 Kansas, on Saturday, December 15^th.

The two losers will be placed into the Cotton and the Outback New Year’s Day Bowls, based on a pre-determined selection order.

The winners will move on to the next Round.

Round of Eight:

You asked me to preserve the importance of the four BCS bowls. In a rotating order, the four BCS bowls will have their selection in choosing the matchup they would most want to host. Assuming the favored hosts win in the play-in round, the round of eight would look like this:

1. #1 Ohio State v. #9 West Virginia (Rose)
2. #2 LSU v. #7 USC (Sugar)
3. #3 VaTech v. #6 Missouri (Fiesta)
4. #4 Oklahoma v. #5 Georgia (Orange)

I would bet that the Rose would love to snatch up OSU, as they haven’t played in the Rose Bowl in ten full years. Additionally, perhaps the Sugar wants the local Tigers to fill the Superdome.

National Semifinals:

These games would be played on a rotating basis at two of the four BCS sites, held on the second Saturday after New Years Day. Every other year, rather than one year in four, would the four marquee bowls get to host of game of national importance. You asked me to respect the schedules of the student athletes. National Semifinals will conclude before the start of second semesters. My predictions in the above games would be as follows:

1. #9 West Virginia v. #4 Oklahoma
2. #2 LSU v. #6 Missouri

National Championship:

You asked me to create an event that would combine the passion of America's favorite tournament (March Madness) with America's favorite day (the SuperBowl). Ideally held during the bye week between the NFL Conference Championships and the SuperBowl, college football has its pinnacle event. Use the SuperBowl /Final Four model, rotating the game between warm weather destinations and stadiums fit to hold 60,000+ fans. Create a week for showcasing all that is good with college athletics.

1. #4 Oklahoma v. #2. LSU

Additional points:

1. Cut the regular season down one (or even two) games. There is no reason that teams should play 12 regular season games.

2. Limit August practice substantially. With the new NCF season extending into mid January for a handful of teams, the start of the season should be moved back. Teams won’t have to be worried that an early season loss will kill their national title hopes.

3. When you do finally agree to set up this Winter Madness, agree to pay the architect, Dav, one-tenth of one percent of the television contract. With this, I will comfortably retire from professional work and bring my problem solving skills to the quagmire in the Middle East.

The Roof Has Caved In

It's official. The Roof era is over at Duke University.

With the 20-14 OT loss to rival North Carolina on Saturday, Duke AD Joe Alleva decided to part ways with embattled head coach Ted Roof. Roof's tenure with the Blue Devils concludes with a 6-45 record over 4+ seasons, including winning only 1 of his final 32 games.

Now, we move on to the ignominious task of searching for a new head coach for arguably the worst program in the BCS conferences.

Four years ago, I argued loudly and publicly to anyone who would listen that the Devils should make their move for a former Duke coach, one who was struggling in the NFL and looking for a return to college. I stated that Joe Alleva should have driven straight to Washington and make the ole ball coach Steve Spurrier the highest paid coach in college football history. Alas, this did not happen, as Duke went in-house and hired the retread defensive coordinator. Spurrier, on the other hand, went to South Carolina, a program with nearly as much futility as Duke, and built it into a national program in three short years.

Now, Duke stands at another crossroads. There is momentum to hire either the offensive or defensive coordinator as to not shake up the current chemistry and players. I dare them to do this. Tired ideas get you nowhere.

Here's an idea. How about the hottest coach in the country, one with NFL experience, and a unique mindset towards running an offense. Duke should make a move for Hawaii's June Jones.

While it may be tough to lure Jones from Hawaii to North Carolina, Jones is losing star QB Colt Brennan after this season and is itching for a chance to prove that his system can work at a major level. Moreover, I think Jones could take an athletic QB like sophomore Thaddeus Lewis and work wonders.

Will Duke make the bold decision? Or will they make the 'safe' choice?

The Return of NOOCH!

Billionaire owner Clay Bennett has taken the first steps in petitioning the NBA to move the Sonics from Seattle to Oklahoma City. The team has three years on their lease left at decrepit KeyArena, but have an opt-out clause they can exercise after this season with penalty. Civic support for a publicly funded new arena has failed to gain any traction in the state legislature, despite whole-hearted support from the ownership group in Oklahoma City. Meanwhile, a state-of-the-art new arena waits in the booming downtown district of OKC. The eager fans from Oklahoma proved they could support an NBA franchise during the past two seasons as they hosted the New Orleans-Oklahoma City Hornets (NOOCH! for those in the know), due to the disaster of Hurricane Katrina.

While it is difficult to see the Sonics leave Seattle after 40 years, it is the right of the owners to move teams, especially when they can no longer remain financially viable in their present situation. The time for protest has past. It should have been conducted when the sale was being discussed, especially to OKC businessmen when had previously stated that it was their intention to bring the team to Oklahoma.

Sadly and ironically, the city that is perhaps least financialy able to support an NBA franchise is the New Orleans Hornets, who have already shown as much in five years. That would be the most natural fit, but now post-Katrina, everyone has shown a moral obligation to commit to rebuilding the Crescent City.

Here's a much better read on the issue, from Henry Abbott formerly of TrueHoop, now ESPN.

Thoughts? Is this a done deal?

Paging Dr. Goodell

Here comes a true test for NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell in dealing with the scheduled game between the Houston Texans and the San Diego Chargers in fire-ravaged Southern California.

Fortunately, he has quite a precedent in looking at past decisions dealing with the nexus of sports and national disasters. From the assassination of JFK (Rozelle deemed his decision to not postpone the games the worst of his life), to the 1981 NCAA title game during the assassination attempt of Reagan, to the attacks of 9/11, to Hurricane Katrina, sports commissioners have had to make the tough decision of how and when the games will go on.

Qualcomm Stadium is currently a disaster refugee site. See the amazing first-hand picture here. The games cannot be played here. A make up date later in the schedule is unlikely too. They could play the game in the first week of the playoffs, but that would be taking a massive risk that neither team would be playoff eligible.

Potential game sites have ranged from Los Angeles Coliseum to Monster Park in San Francisco to Arizona's Sun Devil Stadium (The Cardinals stadium is hosting a motorcycle rally), to Texas Stadium in Irving, to Reliant Stadium in Houston. I am certain Goddell will not choose Houston as that would give the Texans a 9th home game and would replicate the mistake his predecssor Tags made in having the Saints 'host' the Giants at the Meadowlands. Look for the game to be held in Arizona, where the Chargers are currently practicing.

Commisioner, the sports world is waiting on your move. Make it with deceny, decisiveness, and fairness.

Schuerholz to Step Down ... The Best GM Ever?

In the biggest MLB story of the day, it appears that John Schuerholz will be stepping down as the General Manager of the Atlanta Braves. See the story here. From the Atlanta Journal Constitution (the preeminent source on Vick news, by the way), they report that Schuerholz will be moving to team president, allowing long time assistant Frank Wren to take over the GM reigns.

Either way, it looks like Schuerholz's tenure as GM of the team of the South is through. What then is his legacy? I would argue that he ranks at the very top of list for modern athletic GMs.

From a Moneyball perspective, the goal of the GM is to put a team in position to make the playoffs, and hope that you win the playoffs with a dissproportionate frequency. As Billy Beane stated, he built teams for the regular season so that the talent and numbers he'd acquire would win over a large 162 game sample. When thrown into a 5 game or 7 game (at most!) crapshoot of a playoff series, anything can happen. Thus, you cannot blame Schuerholz one bit for his team's playoff shortcomings (1 title in 14 postseason appearances).

That's why, I'd argue the accomplishment of Schuerholz is incredible. His teams reached the playoffs in 14 straight seasons. That's unfathomable in this era of MLB parity. His teams acheived a cumulative record of 1,594-1,092. He successfully transitioned from two distinct eras of Braves teams and players. Some may argue that what the Marlins have done is more remarkable - having two fantastic championship seasons interspersed with abject futility. Not me. I would say that to stay that good for that long is much, much more impressive.

Thoughts on the Schuerholz era? Is there a better GM in baseball?

NCAA Graduation Rates

This past weekend, the NCAA announced the compilation of their newest data regarding graduation rates among Division One student-athletes. It is their 2007 report based on students that entered college between 1996 and 2000. See all the data here. Having married into a family of five D1 athletes (all who graduated, mind you), this issue is close to home. While there is significant debate over the accuracy, such as how you define whether a school ‘failed’ to graduate a player (for example: transferring, graduating in more than six years, choosing a lucrative professional career all do not count), it is fascinating none the less to garner these factoids:

• The overall percentage graduated held steady at 77%, and it must be said that this is far better than the overall graduation rate of non-athletic students.

• Of the top 25 football teams, Boston College is the best at graduating players with 93 percent; Nebraska is #2 at 83 percent (The N stands for Nowledge!)

• The Red River Shootout combatants rank right at the bottom (Oklahoma and Texas with 44% and 42% respectively)

• Notre Dame football ranks near the very top of all schools (hey, at least you can celebrate something – you are in Duke football territory now).

• For the first time in a while, UNC men's basketball is better than Duke (86% to 67%)

• Maryland, under the esteemed Gary Williams scored a 0%. They failed to graduate a single player during this timeframe. Remember, this includes their title run in 2002.

Now, step back a second. Does this matter one bit to you? Could you care less if your favorite school actually graduated its revenue sports student-athletes? Don’t they add a value to an institution far greater on the field or court than they do in the chemistry lab? In all reality, elite players at these top programs are in a lucrative (note: for everyone except the players) minor league that allows them to practice the skills they will hope to use at the next level. For these players, we should not be worried. But for those student-athletes with no shot of playing professionally, it is imperative on the academic institution to do everything possible to ensure the student is prepared for a life beyond athletics. This includes helping them at every step on the way to graduation.