gehringer_2

You can't put a price on doing God's work.

Better games in abstract, quality of play sense, but here is the "on the other hand": In a super conference full of similarly resourced teams, records of playoff teams are more likely to trend to 8-4 than 12-0. Even though we know it's the result of cupcake scheduling, the current system benefits from the hype around all the still undefeated/nearly undefeated teams near season end. The odds of getting a late season game between undefeated UM/OSU (and your 17M eyeballs?!), in a super conference are going to go down - to maybe zero.

ten years is eternity in the NFL. And O linemen tend to be on the older side of players when they entering the NFL with nearly all the good ones having been red-shirted.

LOL - could be the bettors will be enough keep everything oiled. Still the relationship between alums and teams has changed and continues to change. How much that affects anything is certainly up for grabs. Part of it is the economics. When my cohort was in school, even non-student tickets were cheap and on graduating you could move into alumni ticket holder status pretty easily. Just in my personal acquaintance I know a number of people, I went to school with, some of whom have even moved out of state, that still buy their alumni tickets going back to the year they graduated. In my son's cohort, that does not seem to exist at all - 1) the added costs of seat licensing and the lower value of entry job offers... and that more grads leave the state immediately on graduation, never to return - though that's an issue that transcends sports! .2) and seats are less available because us old coots haven't given them up! . So maybe the commercial interests and the bettors keep the money flowing, but you're whistling past the graveyard if you don't think alumni bonds are decaying. In that it's no different than the decay of every other institutional attachment people used to have in the US. To me the most striking thing in the decade+ I have been working with students, is how the Friday buzz about Saturday's game in our student lab has reached a point of non-existence. Maybe Michigan is just more of an outlier on this because our student body is less local than most schools, whatever - but you can't miss the difference. The game can go on without the students caring, but OTOH I do think that the further college ball goes down the road to being the NFL light, the more they risk making a left turn into something like the NBA gleague or MiLB. Time will tell -- but never underestimate the capacity of greedy people to screw up a good thing.

Ottawa County makes the front page of WaPo. https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2023/12/23/ottawa-county-commissioners-michigan-department-health/

No question you are more optimistic than I am. My question is where is the market position? Once the college players are pros, you basically have the NFL light, and every league that has gone up against the NFL for eyeballs has failed, because nobody does what the NFL does better than they do. The attraction of college sports has been in all the differences in the way it operated from the way pro sports operated. If you take away all those differences, which are disappearing by the day, why am I watching Ann Arbor vs Columbus (UM/OSU) instead of Det vs Cleveland - aka Lions/Browns? There can only be one set of top pros, and it's going to be the NFL. Sure there is a certain amount of alumni market to particular existing brands, but judging by the loose attachment of today's students to their varsity teams, that's a lot weaker once you get past the boomers into gens x/y/z and the boomers are dying.

IDK - At the NBA level two guys - one a ten yr vet, the other supposedly with great basketball IQ, have to be coached how to run a pick and roll? Ok, coaching may be a big issue but I'd locate it more at the accountability end than at the level of that kind of instruction.

Before they tore down the Metrodome there was a nice pub more or less right across the street - we'd go there before Tigers games at the dome, but I'm pretty sure that either Hennepin County Hospital has now built into where they were or may the block got bulldozed when they were puttin in the new stadium but I don't see it on the map anywhere.

College football today is like watching a train barreling toward a cliff, the bridge is out but everyone on board is too busy partying to bother looking down the tracks.

It's gotten to where if you want a top tackle or C, you've got to think 1st round. Sewell, Ragnow and Decker were all 1st rounders. Should find a fine guard in the 2nd.

Yup - Weaver has drafted/collected a stable of 2nd team role players without ever having any core players beyond Cade to put them around. They are a long way from anywhere now and there is no indication that either Weaver or Gores even understands what a player in today's NBA is supposed to look like.

Thanks for the update. In Wentz's case I don't have much remaining confidence he has a future in the majors.

I was as vocal as anyone about Holland doing a poor job of finding RH shots to balance the team, but yeah - there is a limit to how much poor play rope a RH stick can buy you. For me Holl has had some games past that limit.

Team is definitely hyper concerned about pitching depth, and you can't blame them after the last three years. Still it is inevitable that the luck screw will turn and they may have a season when no-one gets hurt and they won't know what to do with all the stockpiled arms.....🤷‍♂️ Still, rather have too much than too little.

It does look like they are setting up for lots of IP to come from the bullpen. Still, I think Faedo, Miller and Chafin would be the only guys they can't option, so it's not like the rest of them can't pitch their way off the 26 easily enough.

Getting close to DefCon on the net minding. They just moved Lyon to IR but retroactive to the 16th. Even though he could still be back almost at any time they probably don't clear the roster sport for less then a couple games.

Splitting starts for guys on innings limits makes so much sense you know it must rub old school baseball people the wrong way.... One of the beat writers, don't remember which - wrote this week that the Tigers say there will be no 6 man rotations. Of course given the quality of the sports reporting in town that may be worthless in general, plus it's also possible that even if management did tell him that, a 5 day rotation with a split start every 5th day may or may not be management's definition of a 6 man rotation.

I will take a guess based on the signing of three additional relievers that we can expect to see Skubal/Mize/Manning/Olsen et al treated with kid gloves - meaning lots of short starts no matter who makes the rotation.

Probably had ChatGPT plugged into one ear.

And terrible news for DeSantis. I'm so broken up..... WaPo reporting that the big DeSantis super pac is pulling ad buys in IA and NH. LOL - the excuse is to 'laser focus on the 'ground game' ." It Ross Perot were still around he'd say that giant sucking sound you hear is the DeSantis campaign swirling into the void.

yeah - we know the team can't score the basketball - or play D. But strictly from an isolated player development standpoint you'd like to see the guy hit the highest possible ceiling. With a team this bad all that's left of any interest to watch is the pool on when the 1st head rolls in the front office, and how good Cade might be able to be.

If Trump loses NH the following week will the most fun we've had in US politics for a long time.

Goaltending was a big question mark coming in to the season and it's only gotten bigger.

It could easily be Mize at Toledo to start the season. But it will almost certainly resolve itself - someone will be hurt or won't get anyone out in ST.

Clearly contract wise - but I just meant health wise - as in recurring trips to DL. Zimm is the poster child for how to end a career with cervical vertebrae issues.