Some MASSIVE sports news dropped on Thursday. With Monday being a holiday, who knows what can happen between now and when I get around to sharing some thoughts. So a quick-ish, emergency post about…
UCLA/USC Jumping To Big 10
WHAT?!?!!? Where the fuck did this come from? I have to say, I am utterly amazed that the UT/OU to SEC and UCLA/USC to Big 10 stories remained so quiet right up until they became done deals. It really doesn’t make much sense to me that there weren’t more leaks in each case.
Texas and Oklahoma to the SEC makes sense in a lot of ways. But the two LA schools joining the Big 10 is pretty fucking nutty. I know this is all about money, both grabbing as much TV revenue as possible and about balancing out money athletic departments are going to start losing as NIL funnels money directly to players. But this seems like a way to massively increase AD expenses in the new Big 10, with some schools literally having to fly across the country to play conference games. I suppose you can have the LA teams make an east coast swing, and Maryland/Rutgers can do the opposite. But are you really going to take the women’s soccer team out of class for a week a couple times a season to play conference games, and then pay to fly them and put them in hotels for that stretch?
I guess this is just another step closer to the power athletic schools ending up in one or two giant leagues, renegotiating all the TV deals, then splitting into geographic divisions that look a lot like the old conferences we knew and loved.
Strangely, for the first time since this wave of realignment began over a decade ago, KU is actually in good shape. The Big 12 made good moves to grab Cincinnati, Central Florida, Houston, and BYU and seems stable. Now whoever ends up being leftover from the Pac–12 will be ripe for the picking. The Big 12 would always be the third or fourth strongest of the power conferences, in terms of TV revenue potential, but the conference would stay alive.
Plus there are the persistent rumors that KU is one of a handful of schools sitting pretty for if/when the Big 10/SEC decide to expand further.
Then there was the ridiculous rumor floating yesterday that KU was looking to join the Big East and go independent in football. I say ridiculous because that makes absolutely no financial sense when the Big 12 is still an option, KU football is not in any position to go independent, and the guy pushing it had a number of college hoops “scoops” that were very wrong. Then again, there have been a lot of rumors that seemed absolutely dumb that have come true during this whole process, so I guess you never know.
Kevin Durant Demands a Trade
I literally laughed out loud when I got the text from a friend sharing this news. After a week of drama about what Kyrie Irving would do got squashed by Kyrie announcing he was returning to the Nets, KD drops this big ass bomb in the NBA, bringing the free agency market to a screeching halt just as it opened.
I get the old man bitching about how players angle to play with their buddies and create super teams. I generally don’t agree with that line of thinking, because I believe when you become a free agent you’ve earned the right to choose your own path, even if it’s different from how superstars would have traveled in the 80s or 90s.
That said, I think when you sign a contract and recruit guys to play with you, you can’t jump ship halfway through your contract when you sour on the situation. You have to live with it and do your best to make it work, even if that means some pain along the way.
Still, I kind of love what a drama queen KD has become. He’s one of the most fascinating players in the league, because he’s different that almost everyone else. He’s not as “crazy” as Kyrie, as ruthless as LeBron, as adept at social media as Joel Embiid. But he’s close to each of them, and when you put it all together, you get an absolute content machine, which makes everything he does insanely compelling. Even if it can be exhausting at times.
Basketball Camp
I missed most of this breaking news as it happened because I was at L’s final day of basketball camp. I got there a little early to watch the scrimmages and the awards presentations.
She had a good week. She met some new girls and became friendly with them. You never know what girls will actually end up at a private school, but she is hopeful a couple of them are in her class in a little over a year. She told me on day two the head coach talked to her about the travel program L is in, how she thinks it is a great one, and how she thought it had made L better (we aren’t sure if she’s seen L play before, although the two local Catholic school coaches do pop into CYO games when they have time). When I dropped her off on Thursday the head coach greeted L by name and several of the varsity players came over and said hello.
Anyway, they got to the awards and went through a few for performance in individual drills and stuff before getting to the final award, Teammate of the Week. When the head coach called L’s name, all the high school girls went nuts, with the best player yelling “YEAH L!!!!” really loud. On our way home she told me how that girl, who is in M’s class but was new to CHS last year so they don’t really know each other, kept following her around all week, giving her pointers. So she made a connection with the head coach, with the current players, and with the girls who could be in her class when she gets to high school. It was a successful four days.