Who is writing this stuff?

It was the most surreal 90 seconds of football I’ve ever seen. Down 2 goals to 1 in extra time against Queens Park Rangers, Manchester City was getting anxious. The best team that (oil) money can buy, including a bench that is paid 6 times more than what some clubs pay their entire teams, desperately needed 2 goals to end a 44 year title drought. Without those two precious goals, the noisy neighbors would have climbed into a self-made grave faster than Joaquin Phoenix’s career. Losing to a newly promoted team at home, title within grasp, is the kind of incompetence the media salivates over.

Enter: Edin Dzeko, header, 92^nd minute

Goosebumps. Manchester City didn’t believe that they could win this, did they? But the belief was obvious in their play, primadonnas transformed in Maradonas, attacking every ball with the abandon of Diego Maradona crossed with Tony Montana. That led to this surreal movement down the pitch:

And Manchester City’s first title since 1968. What can fans of the most popular sport on the planet expect from the Barclay’s Premier League this year?

New players

As usual, the summer transfer market reads like a Christmas wish list. Sergio Aguero, scorer of that crucial 3^rd goal for Manchester City at the Etihad, was one of the new toys in the 2011-2012 season. Now Aguero will play Woody to the Buzz Lightyear presence of Premier League neophytes Edin Hazard (£32 million, Chelsea), Oscar (£25 million, Chelsea), Olivier Giroud (Arsenal, £12 million), Lukas Podoloski (Arsenal, £11.9 million), Santi Cazorla (Arsenal, £16.5 million),  Ron Vlaar (Aston Villa, £3 million), Fabio Borini (Liverpool, £10 million), Shinji Kagawa (Manchester United, £17 million), Vurnon Anita (Newcastle, £6.6 million), Jan Vertonghen (Tottenham, £9.5 million) and Gylfi Sigurdsson (Tottenham, £8 million).

Same face/different place

Additionally, it wouldn’t be the BPL without some familiar faces playing in unfamiliar jerseys. Fans are the biggest casualty of the transfer market as they endured the departure of Luka Modric from Tottenham to Chelsea, Everton’s Jack Rodwell decision to wear Manchester City blue, Joe Allen looking for greener pastures as he leaves Swansea City for Liverpool and a strangely consistent storyline for Arsenal fans, the departure of their captain. This time, former-captain Robin van Persie bids Arsene and Co. adieu and jumps ship to join Manchester United. Gunner fans would be near catatonic if they hadn’t seen the departure of Thierry Henry, Ashley Cole, Samir Nasri and Cesc Fabregas in recent years.

This season promises outstanding team performances, otherworldly individual efforts and world-class football that is a staple of the Premier League fan’s diet. But the uncertainty, drama and possibility that the history books will be rewritten by a mere 90 seconds on the pitch are what fans truly crave. Where will you be during extra time of the last Premier League match on May 19^th 2013? I hope you’re waking up early like me, wondering “who is writing this stuff?” 

College Football Update

It’s early August and you know what time it is! The College football season is less than 3 weeks away; time for the first USA Today poll.  The top 10 includes several established programs with big-time reputations:

1. LSU
2. Alabama
3. Southern California
4. Oklahoma
5. Oregon
6. Georgia
7. Florida State
8. Michigan
9. South Carolina
10. Arkansas

One thing, rather, one conference sticks out from that list and it’s a movie we’ve all seen before. And like Hollywood executives, this conference didn’t even bother to change the name of the movie (bet you've never heard of Total Recall (2012), Robocop (2013) or Dirty Dancing (2014)).The last 6 national championship winners hail from the SEC (2011 - Alabama), SEC (2010 - Auburn), SEC (2009 - Alabama), SEC (2008 – Florida), SEC (2007 – LSU), and SEC (2006 - Florida). Scripting the national championship never seemed so easy. Pick the best team from the SEC and crown their ass!

The SEC appears formidable in 2012; this year, the conference is home to 5 of the top 10 teams with last year’s national championship contenders, LSU and Alabama, ranked number 1 and 2; respectively.  The spoils of conference realignment expanded the SEC to include Big-12 defectors Missouri and Texas A&M. Will a 14-team SEC continue to run riot on the other conferences?

Death to the BCS! Once the most lampooned judging system this side of figure skating, the BCS will make way for a 4 team playoff starting in 2014. Although this playoff will upgrade you from the BCS, it is still far from ideal. I’m already suspicious of the currently undesignated committee that will select and seed teams for the playoff. It’s usually a nightmare when strange men act under the cloak of secrecy.  

University of Southern California QB Matt Barkley is the early Onions! front-runner to stiff arm the competition en route to the Heisman. Barkley, a senior, elected to return to USC for his final year and a chance at redemption for a national powerhouse mired in scandal from bowl bans and NCAA investigations.Using plenty of elite talent at the skill positions (it’s still USC), Barkley and the Trojans will impregnate supple defenses with an aerial assault that will ask Heisman voters "who's your daddy?". Look for Barkley to add to the legacy of USC Heisman trophy winners that did or did not win

And it wouldn’t be a college football post without a Fulmer Cup update. For the uninitiated (and those that don’t click the links), Onions! favorite everydayshouldbesaturday.com awards the Fulmer Cup to the Division I program that demonstrates the worst criminal record during the offseason. Highlighted by ex-coach Bobby Petrino’s best Benjamin Button impersonation, the University of Arkansas is running away from the competition like Usain Bolt.

While athletes and coaches misbehaving is sure to dominate the sports news cycle, these individuals don’t commit more crime than the general population. Either way, the Fulmer Cup remains one of my guilty pleasures.

Chink in the NFL's armor

Baseball might be America’s pastime, but the NFL is clearly the cash cow of U.S. sports. With league revenues on pace to break the $10 billion barrier (MLB, NBA, and the NHL aren’t close) and the average value of its franchises sitting comfortably at $1 billion (once again, only major sport that can make that claim), the NFL is a safer bet to print money than the U.S. Treasury.  Hell, the Browns were sold for $1 billion last week and they’re in Cleveland (for now, anyways).

The NFL’s financial prosperity is connected to a well-managed public image that believes the league’s front office is driven by a fair-minded, common sense approach. However, the latest developments in the Bountygate scandal threaten that image of the NFL and its most identifiable figure, Commissioner Roger Goodell.  Evidence is mounting that the league is mishandling this crucial scandal.

The opening punch:

Suspended New Orleans Saints' linebacker Jonathan Vilma deserves recognition for consistently maintaining his innocence and demonstrating a willingness to clear his name throughout this scandal. The support of his teammates, coaching staff and organization should not be understated either. By filing a defamation of character lawsuit against Goodell (and refusing to drop it), Vilma created leverage by threatening the public’s view of the NFL as an impartial arbitrator. In recent years the NFL, and Goodell in particular, gained notoriety for giving players the most punitive player conduct punishments in U.S. sports. In fact, 4 of the 8 longest non-substance-abuse suspensions in the history of the NFL are during the Goodell era.  Players consistently grumble (here, here and here...guessing the Steelers aren't sending the Goodells a Christmas card this year...) that the entire process is akin to a kangaroo court because Goodell is simultaneously judge, jury and executioner.

The haymaker:

Sure, Vilma and other individuals implicated in Bountygate levied harsh criticisms at Roger Goodell. But it was Saints' quarterback (and media darling) Drew Brees that landed a punch that really stunned the commish. In late June, Brees delivered this salvo on Letterman:

"Put forth the facts, the truth, and if indeed there was a pay-to-injure scheme, then people will get punished, and if there's not, then let's exonerate these men because, at this point, it seems like it's a smear campaign...We're dragging them through the mud; we're ruining their reputations and careers with no true evidence."

When the guy with the largest guaranteed contract in your sport is speaking out against you, ears throughout the world of sports perk up. As soon as Brees’ quote made the airwaves, the 24/7 media cycle devoured it. By the end of that week, every elite NFL player that interviewed on the major networks was asked about Brees’ comment. After Brees spoke out against the commissioner, it was time for every player to put up or shut up. And the NFL isn’t home to the shut up type.

The score card:

Two days ago, news broke that the NFL was negotiating to reduce Vilma’s season-long 16 game suspension to 8 games. Reports also indicate that Vilma’s suspended compatriots (Browns linebacker Scott Fujita, Green Bay defensive tackle Anthony Hargrove and Saints' defensive end Will Smith) may also have their suspensions reduced.

Regardless of the length of suspension he receives, Vilma’s challenge to Goodell’s expansive powers to discipline player conduct is a victory for players. Of course, the NFL maintains that "No such settlement offer has been made. We will continue to respect the court proceedings on this matter and have no further comment at this time"

But where there's smoke, there's fire. These Bountygate suspensions are down for the count

Baseball money

“Boston Red Sox hat, I get baseball money"

 - Lil Wayne

You know you're on the fast track to gluttony when rappers are envious of your lifestyle. What exactly is baseball money?

Baseball money is 9 of the 10 largest contracts in the history of sports.  Or 17 of the 20 largest contracts or 30 of the 50 largest contracts. That’s amazing. 60% of the 50 largest contracts in the history of sports belong to one sport. But these salaries don’t match with the popularity of Major League Baseball and hint at changes in the future.

In 2011, the sports universe almost imploded. The potential of protracted work stoppages in the NBA and NFL, far and away the two most popular sports in the US, almost trapped fans in sports' no man’s land. I don’t know what I was going to do without an NFL AND NBA season last fall. It’s the sports equivalent of sending fans into the Heart of Darkness, savagery was almost guaranteed.

These work stoppages produced immense change in NBA and NFL landscapes. The NBA completely revamped its business model, amnestying almost $342 million worth of contracts and adding jersey patch sponsorships to try to rake in an additional $100 million. The NFL made drastic changes as well. Rookie contracts were growing faster than Rex Ryan’s waistline (shoutout to Rex for dropping over 100 lbs this summer) but now these contracts are scaled. Even star players in the NFL have trouble demanding sizable contracts (remember the Drew Brees saga?). Meanwhile, the Houston Astros signed Carlos Lee to a 6 year/$100 million contract (in 2006) that was twice the size of the Red Sox's David Ortiz’s contract that same fall. When you have a chance to lock up a guy that’s half as good as David Ortiz for twice the money, you have to do it, right?

More troubling is that MLB salaries don’t correspond with baseball’s popularity. The NFL has the lowest average salary despite the best fan attendance and largest television audiences in the 4 major sports. NBA players enjoy much greater endorsement contracts than their peers in MLB and they can’t demand the salary that MLB players take for an afterthought. Consider, the top 10 compensated athletes in MLB and the NBA:

• 90% of the $250 million earned by the top 10 MLB players in 2012 was from salary
• 61% of the $308 million earned by the top 10 NBA players in 2012 was from salary
• These NBA players earned $120 million in endorsements or 380% more their peers in MLB
• NBA endorsement money is equal to 53% of the salary made by MLB’s top 10

The posterchild for baseball money is the Yankees' Alex Rodriguez and he demonstrates the salary/popularity mismatch. Rodriguez, the highest paid player in MLB, has signed two contracts totaling over half a billion (that’s with a b) in salary. However, A-Rod only made $3.5 million in endorsements last year (I love putting "only" before an amount in the millions…). In contrast, Kobe Bryant, the NBA’s highest paid player in 2011, collected $28 million in endorsements. MLB stars like the Minnesota Twin's Joe Mauer who are not tainted by the specter of steroid aren’t that marketable either, Mauer pulled down $2.75 million in endorsements last year.

I bring up endorsements as a way of gauging popularity because I’m not sure the American sporting public will miss baseball if a work stoppage is imminent. The NBA and NFL are stocked with stars that marketers and the public enjoy courting and even that level of popularity wasn’t enough to derail work stoppages in each sport last fall. Maybe baseball owners are wealthier than owners in the other sports so they don’t care that their business model doesn’t look as endurable as the other major sports. One thing is certain, when it comes to giving $100 million contracts, MLB owners have less restraint than Christian Grey in his red room of pain. Only time will tell if fans can free themselves from these seductive billionaires.

Dream Team vs. Redeem Team

I was going to hold my tongue and not make any Team USA comparisons. Then Spain's (and the Memphis Grizzlies') center Marc Gasol had to mess around and say this:


"On a bad day for the '92 team, the current team would lose by just 15 or 20 points against them"

That's ridiculous, on a bad day for the '92 team, Larry Bird and John Stockton play heavy minutes. Why is that a bad thing? Well, at 35, Larry Bird was the oldest member of the Dream Team and only played in 2 of the 8 games at the Olympics. John Stockton was 30 and there's no way he would be able to stay in front of ANY guard on the 2012 roster. There's absolutely no way that the '92 team wins by 15 to 20 points on a bad day. Gasol is just speaking in hyperbole, I'll drop the exaggeration for an understatement. I know a team that the '92 team would have trouble with on a GOOD day for them. And it's not the 2012 team. It's another Team USA roster with a catchy name, the 2008 Redeem Team. That's right folks, I'm going there. Sit down, grab some popcorn, 'cause you gon learn today! 

(Aside: I'm comparing the 1992 and 2008 teams on the court. Not their basketball legacies. Or their cultural impact. Just the on-the-court product. The 1992 team wins those other comparisons in a landslide.)

Reason #1: Age

 Dream Team Roster

Redeem Team Roster

Average age of the 1992 team: 29, 5/12 players older than 30 (Bird, Stockton, Drexler, Ewing, Johnson)

Average age of the 2008 team: 26, 1/12 players older than 30 (Kidd)

The difference in average age for these teams is just 3 years, but that is a world of difference in sports. Most athletes peak between the age of 26 and 29. That means that the 2008 team is loaded with players that were beginning their statistical prime while the 1992 team was stacked with guys that were never going to contribute the way they used to (that's how you end up with Larry Bird only playing 2 games). Both teams would have to end up playing their benches and I’m not frightened when I look down the Dream Team bench. The Redeem team is more likely to give up their seat in public transportation to some of the old guys on the 1992 team than worry about their crossover.

Reason #2: Better international competition

In 1992, the Dream Team ran roughshod over their competition. They won their 8 games by an average of 43.8 points. And after watching the NBA TV documentary on the Dream Team, the scores were not indicative of the gulf in talent between Team USA and the rest of the world. (I think the gap between Tom Hanks and Paul Walker might be close. Maybe Julia Roberts and Snooki?)

The rest of the world learned that day. Since that summer in Barcelona, basketball federations in Argentina, Brazil, Spain, and France built elite programs. Globally, the quality of play improved dramatically. By the 2004 Olympics in Athens, Argentina was competitive enough to defeat Team USA, marking the first time that a team of professionals had failed to win the gold medal in 4 attempts.

The 2008 Redeem Team was born from the failures of the 2004 team and the triumph of international competition.  In 1992, the NBA had 21 international players (5% of all players); currently, there are 84 international players (19% of all players). The Redeem Team faced an overall quality of competition that toughened them in a way that the Dream Team would have never experienced.

Onions! verdict:

Team age and quality of opponents are sizable advantages for the Redeem Team. The 1992 version of several Dream Team players is an older shell of the legacies that we remember so fondly (Bird and Magic never won a playoff series after the 1991 season). Yeah, names like Michael Redd, Carlos Boozer, and Tayshaun Prince won’t end up in the hall of fame. But that’s not what a game between the Dream Team and the Redeem Team would boil down to. Young legs, better depth, and a more competitive international culture would put the Redeem team in position to take down the Dream Team. Book it

Unprecedented Pennalty

Wow. Where to begin? The NCAA went H.A.M on Penn State and in typical NCAA fashion, it went way too far. I know this punishment for the Jerry Sandusky scandal isn't the death penalty, but it's beyond harsh. Let’s start out with the punishment:

• $60 million fine
• Four-year postseason football ban
• Five-year probation for athletic department
• Four-year scholarship reduction (10 initial; 20 total)
• Vacating wins from 1998-2011 (112 wins)

And from the Big 10 conference, Penn State received (among others) these punishments:

• Four-year ban from Big 10 championship game
• Reallocating Penn State’s forfeited share of conference bowl revenue. Approximately $13 million will go to Big 10 community charities dedicated to protecting children.

I included these two sanctions by the Big 10 conference as an example of perfectly reasonable ways to punish both the university and the football program, without arbitrarily trying to revise the past or excessively hurting current and future student-athletes. That second punishment by the conference gets a round of applause.The Big 10 came up with this Solomon like decision and they can’t even count!

I’m on board with the first four NCAA penalties. Money talks, so that $60 million fine is the only way to get the attention of a University with a $1.7 billion endowment. Secondly, the postseason ban for the football program is a must. Penn state can’t stand to potentially make millions of dollars in extraneous postseason competition while under punishment. OK, moving on.

I didn't even blink twice when I saw probation for the athletic department and scholarship reductions. A central issue in the Sandusky scandal is poor institutional oversight by PSU and these penalties are punitive oversight measures. Yawn, what’s next?  Vacating wins from 1998-2011. You cannot be serious!  I don’t understand vacating wins as a punishment. How do you read a record book with vacated wins, especially one with 112 vacated wins? Like this? It just doesn’t make sense

The vacated wins means that the last football game Joe Paterno officially won was November 22, 1997 instead of October 29, 2011. They mean that instead of ending his career with most wins all-time (409), Joe Paterno is now 12^th in career wins (298). The farce of the vacated wins punishment is that they don’t make Penn State return the MONEY that they won from these wins (ticket sales, concessions, conference bowl revenue, etc.). Altering record books pales in comparison to altering pocketbooks.

Players from 1998-2011 are also hurt by the vacated wins and none of them knew about the Sandusky scandal or the university’s cover-up. Adam Taliaferro, a former PSU football player that successfully rehabbed from a spinal injury he sustained in a 2000 game, tweeted: “NCAA says games didn't exist... I got the metal plate in my neck to prove it did..I almost died playing 4 PSU..punishment or healing?!? #WeAre.”

Taliaferro is a current member of PSU board of directors; obviously, he and hundreds of teammates will have an issue with the vacated wins when they put themselves at physical risk to have a grand total of zero wins in 13 years of football sorta-kinda-but-not-really played.

What do you think about the NCAA’s sanctions? Take the poll to the right

Linsanity lands in Space City

On Wednesday, the New York Knicks declined to match the Houston Rockets' offer sheet for Jeremy Lin. Today, the internet is still trying not to collapse under the weight of all the controversy this decision created.

Where does Onions! stand on all this? It’s easy, the Knicks made a mistake by letting Lin go.

Let’s run down the most comment arguments against resigning Lin.

Argument 1: Lin’s new contract is “ridiculous”.

The Rockets offered Lin a 3 year, $25 million contract with a balloon payment in the third year. During his final year of this contract, Lin is scheduled to make $14.8 million in salary. If the Knicks are the team paying him that salary, he would cost the team $45 million on the salary cap (this is because the new Collective Bargaining Agreement becomes very punitive against teams like the Knicks that are over the salary cap in the 2014-2015 season).

Is Lin's contract (and year 3 in particular) actually ridiculous? Only in a vacuum where you evaluate players solely on the basketball skill that they bring to the court. Very few players in the HISTORY of the league could demand $45 million in one year (remember the total cap number) and Jeremy Lin certainly isn’t one of them. But Lin’s off the court financial impact more than compensates for his salary over the lifetime of his contract. Linsanity was responsible for Madison Square Garden and Time Warner Cable negotiating a new TV contract, added almost $600 million in market capitalization to Madison Square Garden, tripled ticket prices, and resulted in the second best selling jersey in the NBA. All this despite the fact that Lin didn't start playing until halfway through the season!

Also, it’s not a coincidence that the Rockets, a team familiar with marketable Asian basketball players (see: Yao Ming) attempted to pry Lin away from the Knicks. After almost a decade with Yao Ming in a Rockets' uniform, Rockets' management should know what to expect as they try to monetize Linsanity in the U.S. and abroad.

Argument 2: Not resigning Lin was a basketball decision about a guy that the Knicks weren’t truly sold on.

Whatever you think of his numbers during Linsanity (Lin averaged 24.6 ppg/9.2 apg/48.2% fg in 10 games before Carmelo Anthony returned from injury. After Anthony returned, Lin averaged 14.6 ppg/5.9 apg/43.2% fg in 16 games) the Knicks current pu-pu platter of options at point guard undermines that argument Lin was not a good basketball fit. New arrival Raymond Felton is on pace to become the first 300 lb point guard ever and at 39, Felton's new backup, Jason Kidd doesn’t need to be at the wheel of an offense (or a vehicle)

Argument 3: Lin betrayed the Knicks.

This argument claims that Lin took the Knicks for granted after the opportunity they gave him. For a guy that was hours away from returning to the NBA’s Development league, Lin could've shown how grateful he was to the Knicks by resigning. But why did the Knicks allow Lin to go and test the waters of free agency if they felt so loyal to him? Loyalty is a two-way street. Letting Lin go on the open market was not an act of loyalty by the Knicks. After all, the Knicks were hours away from letting Lin go. The Knicks should've locked Lin up to an extension if they thought he was an asset, otherwise you never know what will happen in free agency.

Onions! verdict:

Jeremy Lin is an improving, young 23 year-old point guard that generates tremendous fan interest. He basically costs the Knicks nothing (and probably generates them money) when you consider his tremendous off-court marketability. Ultimately, the Knicks are a better basketball product on and off the court with Jeremy Lin on their roster. Too bad for Knicks fans that their management can’t see this. 

NFL Roots

The NFL TOTALLY REDEEMS ITSELF!!!

It’s that time of year again. For the past few years I keep telling myself that I’m not going to watch the NFL and that I fancy college football to THE NATIONAL FOOTBALL LEAGUE. Then the BCS goes Kratos on itself , killing the gift of college spirit and unpredictability in what is a heaping pile of yeti manure that is the BCS and its endless series of meaningless/boring bowl games.

The NFL has provided many a story during its ‘bowl’ season, continuing to be the unstoppable behemoth that consistently dominates airwaves, televisions, sports blogs and print media. Why do I keep watching? Why do I listen in my room to WFAN even though I don’t particularly care for the New York Giants or Green Bay Packers? Why did I believe that Tim Bebow, after his Broncos smote the Steelers in an epic overtime duel, be able to both cast out demons and have a chance at defeating Mr. Uggs himself, Tom Brady? Something about the NFL just keeps me coming back for seconds and thirds like I’m Jamarcus Russell at that shady Chinese buffet down the street.

How about the 49ers – Saints contest? Are you kidding me? I was glued to the radio, KNBR 680, screaming along with commentators Ted Robinson and Eric Davis when Vernon ‘The Centaur’ Davis hauled in his epic snag. You know that 49ers Coach Harbaugh sat Alex Smith down before the game and gave him a Coach Riley speech for the ages. The Bayou Boys and the Bay Area Bombers gave us one for the ages: crunching hits, horrible tackling, naked 20+ yard bootlegs, multiple 4th quarter lead changes, crying on the sideline. It felt like a college game! Same could be said for most of the Packers-Giants contest. Granted, there were some yawners for games (Patriots simultaneously thumping the Tebow’s Broncos while simultaneously filming the newest Diary of a Wimpy Kid movie and the Texans-Ravens making tar go up a cold hill in December seem more entertaining), but still, the NFL got it done.

I can’t wait for next weekend’s conference showdowns.

College Football Realignment

Beware the ides of March. No, not you Julius Ceasar. I’m talking to the conference commissioners of the Big 12, Big East and mid-major conferences everywhere. As of this writing, the Big 12 is mostly likely going to be down to the Small 4. The Big East has already lost 2 teams (Syracuse and Pittsburgh) to the ACC and could lose two more (Connecticut and Rutgers) in the coming months. The ripple effect of teams leaving the major conferences will endanger mid-majors everywhere as conference commissioners scramble to find replacements.

So far, the only mid-major conference affected by realignment is the Mountain West which lost Utah to the Pac-12 and Texas Christian to the (dying) Big East. Expect consistently relevant mid-majors such as Boise State, Fresno State, Houston, and some other mid-major teams I can’t name because I don’t watch them play to get a call from conference commissioners reeling from having their best teams poached.

What does the all the realignment mean?

Conference realignment is clearing the way for a potential playoff in college football which is reason for fans everywhere to rejoice. For years, the Big East winner has been scrutinized for its automatic BCS bowl bid because of the Big East’s status as an Automatic Qualifying (AQ) BCS conference. It’s hard to believe that the new, underwhelming Big East will receive any less scrutiny once the realignment dust settles. The Big 12 (or whatever they rename themselves when they settle on a number of teams) will be riding shotgun with the Big East in the car of AQ conferences with beyond questionable status as an automatic qualifier. The super conferences that result from realignment (most likely a PAC 16, a 16 team ACC, and a 16 team SEC) will have conference runner-ups (and even 3^rd and 4^th place finishers) that have a more legitimate claim to a BCS bowl than any team that wins the floundering Big East or Big Whatever 12.

Hopefully, these super conferences will pressure their college presidents to find the most fair way to determine BCS bowl bids and ultimately the national championship: a playoff system. Talk of a playoff system is almost as old as college football itself, but the dramatic changes from conference realignment may be the impetus that the college presidents need to finally opt-in to a playoff. Of course, this is all just rampant speculation here at Onions! (you can become an Onions! insider for speculation free posts) and conference realignment may not be a harbinger of a playoff system at all. Only time will tell. In the meanwhile, conference commissioners beware the Ides of March

Teach Me How To Doug Davis

2011's College Basketball's Conference Tourney Week's best moment came not in a tournament but in the Ivy League Playoff Game when good defeated evil. The world has been righted as order was restored and Harvard was kept away from the tournament as it should be. (Dear Jeremy Schaap, Please remove your lips from Cambridge. Schools other than Harvard produce as many great figures. Princeton has more than Brooke Shields and James Madison; see Woodrow Wilson, F. Scott Fitzgerald, and current SC justices Sotomayor, Kagan, and Alito). Down 1 point, Douglas Davis hit the game winner after his previous drive to the hole was blocked, which set up the out of bounds play with 2.8 left. A great fake and miracle shot sent the Tigers dancing and everyone in orange and black was dancing (Even press row got into celebrating). This was the best game/moment/court storming of the previous two weeks and the whole year. Let's review why this game was the best of the year:
1. These teams earned their way to get to an important game by not getting hot in 3 or 4 games but by sustaining excellence over a 14 game conference schedule. This bid was truly earned and all Ivy teams had an equal chance of obtaining it.
2. It was a game played at an incredibly intense level. While Harvard led from about the last 8 minutes of the 1st half to the last five minutes, the last five was a true heavyweight fight. Rewatch those last five games on ESPN3. Even though these teams could both get beat by a team with a big frontcourt, they both played with the mindset that they should win.
3. The Fans brought the NOISE (despite no Mr. Miyagi). Yale stadium officials had to resort to a South American and Eastern European soccer crowd control technique. The notorious Crimson and Tiger student sections had to be separated by an empty bleachers due to their intense hatred of each other (at least they could both agree at the beginning of the game with a joint "Yale Sucks" chant). The crowd was intense the whole game and the students stood the entire game. A neutral court storming that was instantaneous might have revived the tradition - this was pure emotion showing you how much Princeton wanted to win after suffering the Joe Scott Era. Plus, it didn't need Gus Johnson screaming to send it to the top of SportCenter's Top 10 Plays.
4. Sydney Johnson - The man can do no wrong even in his press conference. He is pure Princeton ("I Love Princeton Basketball"). When asked about Harvard's chances, he responded: “I know that we deserve one. I so appreciate what Harvard accomplished, and you almost pull for them. It would have ended a long drought for them. But I hope we can celebrate what this group has done at Princeton.” The man-god is all about the orange and black. He hit big shots in his time as point guard and was the Tigers' leading scoring in the upset of UCLA in 1996. Now he led the Tigers in their biggest win since then. Princeton fans are hoping he doesn't jump ship after taking the worst team in Princeton history three years ago to top of the Ivies.
5. Good over Evil - Harvard was the hip team of Boston. Bob Ryan decided to take in a game even though he is too much of a bigshot to make any other appearance. Bill Simmons watched his first Harvard game despite growing up in Boston. This was the bandwagon team of Boston. (Editor's Note: Dick Vitale jumped on the Princeton bandwagon during the epic NCAA First Round 1989 Princeton-Georgetown showdown.) Harvard wanted sympathy but choked it away. Unless the committee decides that their expansion to 68 teams means extra mid-major spots and not major conferences, Harvard will not be going to the NCAAs for their first time since 1946. Yes they have wins over BU, Colorado, and the mighty MIT (unfortunately Cal Tech didn't want to hurt their RPI), but also lost to Yale and any other good team (UConn, GMU, Michigan, Princeton). They only have a chance if the committee really wants a team that has not really played a tough schedule. For all the stuff New Jersey gets, it helped America by keeping Red Sox Nation from infiltrating other sports.
It might be said that everything wrong with college athletics began with the Ivy League, but everything right was displayed yesterday in the Yale Gym.