Called forth from the far reaches of the internet to behold yellow:- The International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT) gave in to pressure from the European Union and took its own scientists' recommendation for a cap on tuna fishing and just for good measure raised it by 46%. Cautioned per Sec. BI-1 for a curious decision.
- The Santa Monica Police Department has started handing out tickets to people gathering to exercise along a grassy stretch of its Fourth Street median. While I understand asking a pack of gym-less kickboxers to move along, let the people do their sit-ups. Cautioned per Sec. BI-1 for hindering the successful ripping of abs.
Are you ready for some football?
And, finally, Jason Whitlock of The Kansas City Star had to go and be that guy.
Last week on 60 Minutes, Barack Obama doubled down on his insistence that college football's much-maligned Bowl Championship Series should be scrapped in favor of a playoff. This, of course, won him favor among fans of college football everywhere. But not with Whitlock, who writes: "Division I-A college football has the greatest regular season in all team sports, and a playoff system would ruin that distinction." Wrong.
Does the Final Four ruin college basketball? Does the Super Bowl ruin the NFL? Does the World Series or the World Cup leave fans of baseball and soccer scratching their heads during their regular seasons? Of course not. Give my congrats to the NCAA for putting on a gangbusters 12-week show, but let's talk about the encore.
Whitlock, however, notes that his real problem with all this is, "I expect Obama to take positions more substantive than 'Joe the Sports Talk Host.'"
Well, there's precedent for Presidential influence over college football.
Back at the turn of the 20th Century, President Teddy Roosevelt, a big fan of the college game, took Harvard, Yale, and Princeton aside for a little conversation about a problem he had noticed on the field, namely that due to a lack of protective gear some of the players were, well, you know, dying. His message: fix the game, or forsake it.
That was then, this is now: we have a single institution running a $100 million winter raffle with ESPN paying $495 million for the rights to the whole mess. You could have bailed out Lehmen Brothers for that kind of cash. And the pocketbook belongs to the same people who make the rules, set up the system, schedule the games, and tell the players when and where they can be professionals--the NCAA. That's called a monopoly. TR would have been concerned about it, too.
The most galling part is that the coaches and the universities who play get paid; the players, of course, don't get a paycheck. The networks and the sponsors love this arrangement; the fans loathe it. But, finally, we now have someone with a voice strong enough to rise above the fray. If he speaks for the players and the fans, let him speak.
Jason Whitlock cautioned per Sec. BI-1 and 2 for unsporting behavior and excessive dissent; cartoon courtesy of Nick Andrson at Chron.com.
Last week on 60 Minutes, Barack Obama doubled down on his insistence that college football's much-maligned Bowl Championship Series should be scrapped in favor of a playoff. This, of course, won him favor among fans of college football everywhere. But not with Whitlock, who writes: "Division I-A college football has the greatest regular season in all team sports, and a playoff system would ruin that distinction." Wrong.
Does the Final Four ruin college basketball? Does the Super Bowl ruin the NFL? Does the World Series or the World Cup leave fans of baseball and soccer scratching their heads during their regular seasons? Of course not. Give my congrats to the NCAA for putting on a gangbusters 12-week show, but let's talk about the encore.
Whitlock, however, notes that his real problem with all this is, "I expect Obama to take positions more substantive than 'Joe the Sports Talk Host.'"
Well, there's precedent for Presidential influence over college football.
Back at the turn of the 20th Century, President Teddy Roosevelt, a big fan of the college game, took Harvard, Yale, and Princeton aside for a little conversation about a problem he had noticed on the field, namely that due to a lack of protective gear some of the players were, well, you know, dying. His message: fix the game, or forsake it.
That was then, this is now: we have a single institution running a $100 million winter raffle with ESPN paying $495 million for the rights to the whole mess. You could have bailed out Lehmen Brothers for that kind of cash. And the pocketbook belongs to the same people who make the rules, set up the system, schedule the games, and tell the players when and where they can be professionals--the NCAA. That's called a monopoly. TR would have been concerned about it, too.
The most galling part is that the coaches and the universities who play get paid; the players, of course, don't get a paycheck. The networks and the sponsors love this arrangement; the fans loathe it. But, finally, we now have someone with a voice strong enough to rise above the fray. If he speaks for the players and the fans, let him speak.
Jason Whitlock cautioned per Sec. BI-1 and 2 for unsporting behavior and excessive dissent; cartoon courtesy of Nick Andrson at Chron.com.
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