The CWS format means a team has to play a minimum of five and possibly up to eight games to win. I doubt there's a single college coach who really wants to cram that many games into the weekend before regionals. Besides the aspect cubbynole mentioned, the current format also caps at four the number of games a team might have to play, and thus doesn't force ACC schools to carry tired pitching stafby Lynn - The Porch
Just accepting the inevitable, unfortunately -- 36 years old, released a few weeks ago by the Orioles organization, presumably the phone wasn't ringing. But he made a few million bucks in the show over the years, and that's not bad for a fifth-round pick. Good luck to him.by Lynn - The Porch
Give one-time gifts, start a charitable foundation, sock a bunch of it away and live on the vigorish... basically, find the balance where we can live well without worrying about money or making life decisions based on it, while also not having stupid-cash laying around tempting us. Oh, and also try not to turn into one of those rich (expletive)s whose children are irredeemable trust-fund brats.by Lynn - The Bucket
I hope they do it like when FSU and Bama played in Jax. I don't care that it's down the road from Athens if we get half the tickets. If it's more of a bowl-game setup where a big chunk of the tickets are up for grabs locally, then yeah, Georgia fans have the obvious advantage there.by Lynn - The Porch
Very good stuff, although it's been awhile since I read them.by Lynn - The Bucket
You're right, everything goes through that "we're great" filter and honestly, we and our ACC brethren could use some of that at times. In particular, we beat ourselves up over bad losses and keep harping on them. When an SEC team has an embarrassing loss, it's instantly forgotten, at least when discussing the league with outsiders. (I'm sure that team's fans keep reminding the coach about it.)by Lynn - The Porch
QuoteAnd if FSU was the lynchpin to an ACCN, I'd think we'd have heard about it by now. It's a connect-the-dots deal, but I think it makes sense. 1. I don't think ESPN was even going to consider it while the ACC was perceived as unstable. How do you invest the time in a network build-out and the distribution issues when you're not sure who's going to be in the league or what the footprint wiby Lynn - The Porch
The NCAA was sniffing around some allegations involving improper contacts, so Georgia might have granted his release in order to make that go away.by Lynn - The Porch
The ACC Network and the future existence/success thereof. I've been one of several on this board for years talking about how this needed to happen. The population base of the conference's home-state footprint (especially with New York and Pennsylvania added now) practically begs for it. And if we're talking about driving expanded-basic access for the actual states in question, four months' worthby Lynn - The Porch
I was less informed/aware of the Derby field this year than any year since I was, like, nine. Not on purpose, just real busy lately.by Lynn - The Porch
By the time he gets here, our center position will be two seniors and a redshirt freshman. Center is not the primary need of the 2014 class but it's still a need. We pretty much need to recruit an entire line plus maybe an extra tackle.by Lynn - The Porch
"The great thing about Facebook is the ability to stay connected with people and share things. The problem with Facebook is that the people we're connected to share things." As for me, I usually just scroll over the random pictures and memes. I've blocked a few from my feed because they rarely post anything that isn't political, though, and there are a few others I would block if they didn'by Lynn - The Bucket
... of doing it like the basketball tournament, then tweak as necessary. Which means: 1. Votes are not made public. 2. There are enough people in the room that no person or conference can ram through whatever they want.by Lynn - The Porch
The latter two comments actually make some sense when the hyperbole is stripped away. I've always thought he was as good of a short-yardage runner as I've ever seen in college football. That's where his legend was made. If he'd play fullback/power-RB, he'd be good at it. And if he had a "normal" RB job he'd be a heck of a trick-play threat, safeties would have to be cautious about crashing in tooby Lynn - The Porch
Notre Dame wants to be an independent in football just like they've always been, and they won't join a conference until they feel they must. It's that simple. When the playoff went to a selection-committee format instead of a conference-champions-only format, that kept ND's access open and pretty much guaranteed they would remain a football independent throughout the first playoff contract.by Lynn - The Porch
Starting with the presumption that I'm somewhat correct with respect to the type of model I could play best -- shorter scale than a Strat/Telecaster, fretboard radius seemingly found only in vintage or reissue Fenders -- the problem is, there isn't a lot of used inventory out there, assuming we're talking used-but-not-vintage. Kind of fits with the idea of them being niche models, I guess. Howby Lynn - The Bucket
When I wrote awhile back that I hadn't played in 25+ years, that wasn't strictly true. I had an acoustic several years ago (won it at a silent auction for next to nothing) and it was decent. Strummed it a few times and never took it out of the box again. I'm not really looking to entertain people around a campfire, I'm just doing this for my own amusement, and the electric fits the music I want tby Lynn - The Bucket
Just shows how short-sighted the signing away of those rights was the first time, but we've been over that.by Lynn - The Porch
"Owns" does not necessarily mean "owns unconditionally." They owned the rights in whatever manner the contract spelled out. I doubt ESPN could have started a full-fledged ACC Network on their own say-so. Could be wrong, but I doubt it. And their ownership of those rights wasn't making them any money, I bet. I can't believe ESPN3/WatchESPN is a profit center at this point and that's where they werby Lynn - The Porch
First, as an aside, you asked what the Big 12 did and I told you. It wasn't a defense of the ACC. Back to the topic... their commish is often regarded as a Texas puppet (just as Swofford is considered a UNC lackey) and they may end up deeply regretting their passive stance toward conference expansion. If the NCAA shoots down their request to have a conference championship game with 10 teams anby Lynn - The Porch
Once stabilized, Texas/Oklahoma etc. are still a good draw. I think Fox probably overpaid a bit, though. Kudos to the Big 12 people for pulling it off. Honestly, I think "retained their Tier 3 rights" is not necessarily a positive checkmark anymore. The Longhorn Network is a flop and no one's ever getting that deal again. The strongest leagues seem to think there's more value in having a confeby Lynn - The Porch
When we say "political," that isn't restricted to Republicans vs. Democrats. In this case, it's very difficult for a topic to lead with "judge," "Fox News," "Islamic jihadist" and "terrorist" without treading on ground we prefer left untrod on this board. Your good intentions are taken at face value, but this is the sort of topic that's just waiting for someone to pull the pin.by Lynn - The Bucket