Thursday, July 29, 2010

Ute's move to the PAC-10

Ok so this isn't a podcast, but I had to put this somewhere. A ute friend of mine on facebook was upset by this article: http://www.ksl.com/index.php?nid=148&sid=11760763.

Here was his facebook post:

"This POSSIBLE argument keeps being brought up? Why? Has or did the PAC 10 ever come out with a statement or was their a report of some-sort that they supposedly did not choose BYU because they are a faith based school? Someone please reference me ONE article that is not written by Dick Harmon, commented on by Mendenhall or some journalist speculating that the PAC 10 did infact turn their heads from BYU because of their faith.

BYU wants to steal the limelight and focus on themselves while denying the fact that in the most recent years (e.g. not 1984) that Utah has had more historic season's then they have (e.g. Quest for Perfection x 2). The University of Utah has proved to the nation they are worthy of this invitation or maybe it just the word WORTHY that really upsets BYU fans, I don't know.

In my opinion this is all speculation, always coming from BYU commentators and fans. BYU has talked about their national championship ever since 1984, it wouldn't surprise me if they will STILL talk about this football/religious persecution till the year 2036. Or maybe, just maybe there will finally be a playoff system developed in the NCAA by then. Pray to GOD that there is because I know he doesn't believe in the BCS and that BYU is his school."

Of course I had to offer a rebuttal. :)
My points to him:

- There have been many reports/articles written that the PAC-10 doesn't want BYU because of their LDS affiliation. I enjoyed this article: http://tinyurl.com/39f9l3s because it cuts through the religion argument and specific mentions the Mormon factor.

- The Y has a bigger fan base than the U. Their stadium is bigger, more people watch them on TV, and they have a longer and bigger tradition of winning (and not just in football). If you wanted a competitive more lucrative conference, the Y and not the U makes more sense.

- By asking Colorado to join the PAC-10, the conf pretty much was saying "we want a school from a BCS conference, but we don't want a threat to our current schools". Colorado is 16-33 over the last 4 years. That's a whopping 33% winning percentage. On the other hand, BYU is 43-9 with a 83% winning percentage. The only thing Colorado brings to the conference is the fact that they were in a BCS conference already. Colorado is a whipping boy here.

What did the PAC-10 actually want? They didn't want to bring in excellent football programs. The key to building a money making conference (and really isn't money the whole motivation of these conferences?) is to have 1 or 2 really good schools every year that can compete for a national title. If you have parity and 5-6 schools that can compete every year, then they will just beat each other up and knock each other out of national title contention. By adding Colorado (a crappy BCS school) and the U (granted they have recent success, but historically they can't compete in recruiting with the PAC-10), the PAC 10 is trying to add just enough legitimacy to get 1 or 2 teams to BCS games and a national title shot. Good move by the PAC-10.

This all being said, the U accepting the invite to the PAC-10 was the right thing for them to do. As a Y fan I had hoped that the U and the Y would have been invited as that would have been awesome, but the PAC-10 was obviously afraid of that happening and decided to take the less threatening school.

No matter what conference the U and the Y are in, there will still be a great rivalry and my hatred for the classless Ute fans will continue.

Go Cougars!

- Rhett

Sunday, January 3, 2010

Episode 12/30/09: Airing of Grievances - NFL vs NBA Contracts, Baseball stadiums, DH, World Series

Joe and Rhett air their grievances with sports. Includes:

- NFL vs NBA contracts. Are guaranteed contracts bad?

- NFL retirement plan: Needs to happen!

- Major League Baseball problems: Stadium size - why aren't they similar?, designated hitter... really??, 162 games is too much of a crap shoot.

Episode 8 MP3 Link