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wablty

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Posts posted by wablty

  1. 1 hour ago, Trojan Man said:

    TV should change the rules so the Arizona schools can't host day games before the third Saturday of October because early October can still be brutal.  I wasn't drinking that day and I made sure to be well-hydrated beforehand so I wasn't hurting too bad, plus the outcome of the game helped, but that was my one and only Arizona State visit.  As for ASU's future affiliation I think the B1G is a longshot.  They're prioritizing Notre Dame and ACC teams before they will head West again, with the only exception maybe being Stanford if that's what it takes to land the Irish.  If they do come West again Stanford, Washington, Oregon and maybe even Colorado are higher on the wishlist than ASU.

    I'm also not sure if the media money will even be there to support massive conferences, given the fact almost all of the big earners are off the board and the future for cable/broadcasters is hazy at best.  If we end up going from a cable model to a 100% streaming DTC model that means having popular brands instead of large markets and maximizing your biggest matchups will make you the most money.  Scheduling fewer games between USC/Michigan and Ohio State/Penn State because you have to make room for USC/ASU and Ohio State/Stanford is a money-losing move in that environment.  Notre Dame + a friend still makes everyone in the B1G richer, but that would raise an already high bar to clear for future invitations even higher.  Teams like Florida State and Oregon and Washington have trouble adding enough revenue right now (while Notre Dame is still independent) to justify an invitation so I don't know how ASU will do it.  Since no existing member will take a pay cut to make room for new members 18 teams, maybe 20, feels like it might be the limit for how large the B1G and the SEC can become.

    If things play out this way the best move for teams outside the B1G and the SEC is to consolidate as much as possible into a third conference, and it's looking like the Big 12 will become that conference.  The ACC is fucked by their very long GOR and below market contract plus the public desire for all their best teams to leave ASAP.  After another decade of the drama that has played out among the ACC haves and have nots this offseason their relationships will disintegrate.  The Pac 12 is fucked by poor leadership, poor geography/time zones, apathetic fanbases and prioritizing academics over athletics.  The Big 12 doesn't have these problems.  They could potentially have teams in all 4 time zones and fill TV windows all day, they survived losing their most valuable teams, their remaining teams know they most likely aren't getting a B1G or SEC golden ticket, they generally field pretty competitive and well-supported teams in the revenue sports and they aren't run by schools like Cal that are openly hostile to revenue sports and think the size of their library has any bearing on media value.  If the ACC and the Pac 12 die or are whittled down to their least valuable schools that frees up more money and more windows for a hypothetical third place conference.  They could get their payout higher than the ACC, the current Big 12 or the Pac 12 will make on their own even if it's not quite B1G/SEC money.  Basically, for ASU it comes down to hedging your bet by taking the safe and sure thing (Big 12 invitation) or going all in on the longshot (B1G invitation).

    That would be pretty rich if the Pac 12 takes oppressive Saudi blood money after all the fuss certain Pac 12 schools made about the possibility of inviting red state religious schools due to ethical and moral concerns.

    There is no hedge.  ASU can dick around and wait and wait and wait, and they'll still be able to walk into the Big 12 whenever/if ever they feel like there's nothing else on the table.  The same reasons for the potential lack of a B1G or SEC invite apply both ways.  It is an enormous school with an enormous alumni basis in a top 10 city (and the ONLY university besides for profits in said top 10 city, which is extraordinarily unusual).  That's why I think they'd rather go Indy with the elite academic Cali schools and "Figure things out" for a few years.  It may be more beneficial for them, and other schools in the remnant Pac, to take some time and improve their marketability and brand when they're at a low.  This is the absolute doldrums for the fanbase.  They've gone through a series of bad hires since Snyder. 

    At some point, a school that is the only show in town (actually the only university in town) is going to do a few things right, and maybe once they do a few things right they won't be in a situation like they are now, when the last 4 star recruit from their home base was in 2019.  And that guy wound up fighting back from medical retirement, being a 2x All Conference DE, and then essentially ended his career after a minute in the CFL because he's too hurt to play.

    Cable and ESPN are diminishing every year, but the base isn't going to change that much.  60 year olds that wanna push the remote button and watch football aren't leaving.  They're just going to get increasingly annoyed when they're told they have to subscribe to X # of systems.  ASU happens to have an enormous retiree base from the midwest in its back yard.  Sure, Bob the retired engineer in Scottsdale might be a Michigan fan, but he's still probably going to watch ASU too, beyond the normal ASU fanbase... which is diminished and suffering under the Cardinals presence, but they did hold off the Cards on attendance and fanbase until the Glendale stadium opened up.

    I just don't see a model of CFB that, in the end, decides ASU is on the same tier as, say, Iowa State or whatever.  If the numbers aren't there, it's because someone hasn't sold the product properly yet.  Thus, they'll wait it out as long as possible to figure out why they currently might not belong.

    At the end of the day, there's just too much value to go along with "Ok, our new rival is Kansas or Texas Tech."

  2. 17 minutes ago, Hurtlocker said:

    Don't think the money infusion will come in as fast as the PAC needs, but some interesting thoughts from Front Office Sports here:

     

    Our shooty hoops has a bad history with Vegas, but football is fine.  Just the normal occasional murder, rapist and pedophile.

    If gambling can somehow keep west coast football from disintegrating in the way it's heading, and largely because Larry Scott somehow fucked up an easy win when it was offered to him, great.

    My preference is the Pac 12 just becomes the Pac 10 and makes enough money to compete.  I just don't know if that's possible without the LA schools.  Seattle, Phoenix and Denver are obviously big deals, and Oregon = Nike, but...  That's not enough on its own.  Not without SoCal.  I think everyone's just tapping the breaks and waiting to see if the big 2 conferences are going to make an offer.  As CFB shuffles the teams around, the Bay Area, Seattle and Phoenix aren't going to be left out in the grander schemes.  There's just too much money in the areas, although the Bay doesn't really care about its teams.

  3. 4 hours ago, Al_4_ISU said:

    I keep seeing articles about how Duluth is going to blow up as people flee insane heat waves.

    Of course, I don't think anyone writing those articles has been there in January.

    If I were a young construction worker with enough knowledge and bucks in my pocket to be start a small construction/demolition business, I'd move to Duluth.  Like now. A bunch of the old houses fucking suck. As money and people flood in, there's going to be an endless fuckton of renovation on the old buildings, and some will need to be torn down.  That city is potentially wonderful, but its money faucet really dried up for a long time and it never really modernized.

    I'm 6'3" and have size 12 shoes, and it legit felt dangerous going up and especially down the stairs of the two houses we rented last year when we were doing North Shore things.  My feet didn't fit on the stairs.  Heel or toes, depending on which way you were going.  The doors are weird and tiny too. 

    However if you can buy a cheap house on a decent lot, remodel or just start from scratch, it's a wonderful place to relocate to.  Superior is basically a small ocean and you can go out and have fun- Just know that it's choppier and waves are more bunched together.  Plus, y'know, all the other less choppy lakes in the area.  It's cold in the winter, yeah, but there's like 5.8 million people in Minnesota that get by just fine.

  4. 3 minutes ago, Hurtlocker said:

    Why wouldn't they stay with those schools in whatever is made out of the west coast?     Oregon State and Washington State will still be there, so that's six.    Just depends on if Oregon/Washington/Colorado/Arizona stick around or if you add SDSU/UNLV and some combo like Rice and Tulane if academics is the thing.

    Indy is a bitch in today's market.

    I just kind of ignored Oregon State and Wazzu because they seem destined for Big 12 if they can get it, or ostracized to the MWC.  They just haven't grown like the other schools.  I'm assuming Oregon and Washington are going to get offers from the Big Ten at some point.  Washington is a mortal lock and I think Oregon probably is too unless Uncle Phil doesn't leave them the billions I assume he is.

    • Haha 1
  5. On 5/31/2023 at 2:48 PM, Trojan Man said:

    All Arizona and Arizona State home games in September have to be at night, so get used to it if those two join the Big 12.  Check their schedules and you'll see all their other September home games are also night games.  It would be dangerous for fans to kickoff during the day early in the season.  I remember going to USC's game at ASU in 2005 and it was on October 1st, which meant it didn't get September night kickoff protection.  Fucking TV scheduled it for the middle of the day and it felt like sitting inside an oven.  You could have fried eggs on the bleachers.  The stadium ran out of ice and bottled water around halftime and I saw a few fans that had to be taken away in an ambulance, presumably for heat strokes.  Some of the older folks I went with had to leave early because it was a life or death situation for them.

    Really late reply, but I was at that game.  Made the mistake of getting a little tipsy beforehand.  It was one of the biggest backlashes of my life.

    When it was 21-3 ASU at halftime with Leinart knocked out (literally), I felt fantastic.  And then the heat and bodies just weighed on you, and then Bush and White kicked in and the game mimicked how you felt.  They didn't actually run out of water, though they were absolutely sending people away.  But you couldn't walk to the bathroom without someone at the stairs on a card table forcing a bottle of water into your hand as you passed.

    By the end of the game I was sick to my stomach because of the 2nd half collapse and probably a mild case of heat stroke.  It might have said 100 or 102, but with 70 whatever thousand other people around you, it was outright dangerous.  Got to AC, still wound up hurling when I tried to eat a good 6 hours after my last drink.

    TV sensibilities aside, it is irresponsible to have day games in Arizona, especially in the Valley, early in the season.  The place is an oven.  You don't even know how much you're sweating. 

    As for ASU in conference realignment, I think they very much want to avoid the Big 12.  Crow, for all his faults, has fought long and hard to bring ASU into the upper echelons of research schools and their association with the Cali schools helps them a lot.  They sat on the outside looking in at the AAU despite being qualified forever due their low general college admission standards, despite the actual colleges and R&D side being strong.  Now it's basically on par with Michigan State, except they haven't had a medical school for in state political reasons.

    Both AAU and the medical school changed within the last 6 months.  They got in and they announced the opening of a new medical school, which is an enormous R&D driver.   With their pre-existing relationship with the Mayo Clinic, I wouldn't be surprised if Arizona State expects to be a top 25ish or higher research school within the next 10-15 years and, consequently, they very much want to be around their peers... Which the Big 12 doesn't have.  Arizona State very strongly feels they are a better fit with the Big 10 (they even play D-1 scholarship hockey now) or the newest versions of SEC which include UT, Aggie, Florida, Vandy, Georgia (still waiting for their AAU invite I think), etc.  If the Pac collapses, I think it's almost more likely they and like Cal, Stanford, Utah, etc. try to go indy for a while.

  6. 9 minutes ago, Rickylovesweed said:

    He’s not all that different than Sark if you ask me. 

    Flopped at USC, Tennessee, and 5-5 in year 1 at Ole Miss. good year so far this year. 

    If he had a year 1 like he did at Ole Miss you would be wanting another coach. 

    Kiffen and Sark were the same people at USC.  Both of them were initially gifted their label of offensive gurus because they were living off the ghost of Norm Chow, arguably the best offensive coordinator ever.

    The difference is Kiffen seems like he's picking stuff up and getting better.  Sark has always just been Sark.

  7. On 3/8/2021 at 6:39 AM, closetojumping said:

     

    I don’t know where this motherfucker came from, but he landed on this thread like a nuclear bomb. Terrific shit. Keep it going.

     

    ASU fan.  Used to hang out on this forum's predecessor once a while for the game threads, never ending fantasizing about conference realignment and Aggie shit talk, but then there was some weird ownership change and I kind of forgot about Shaggy/Surly for a while.

    • Haha 1
  8. 17 minutes ago, Coelenterate Fuccboi said:

    I wonder how the Surly faithful would fare given similar temptations? I’m guessing most of you ugly fucks would have pics similar to Petrino’s if given to same opportunities.

    Who's judging?   The vast majority would probably do the same shit.  Everyone knows that.  The interesting part is what's the schtick?  The vibe?

    I've got Dennis Erickson pegged for sitting at a high end medium tier all inclusive resort in the Dominican, just picking off bored 30-40 year old wives left and right.  Daquiri or margarita literally never leaves his hand.

    Holgorsen described above.  Sexy ass 80's vintage IROC.  Sexy ass bald Jimmy Buffet mane.  More fucking blow than Cocaine Cowboys.

    I imagine Jackie Sherrill was celibate every day of the year but one, at which point he wore a goat skull as a hat and orchestrated an unholy blood orgy.  Glistening.  Absolutely fucking glistening with oil and blood.

    Spurrier is too dangerous.  It's probably amazing and terrible.

     

    • Hook 'Em 3
    • Like 1
    • Haha 2
  9. How do you all not know about Sark when he was at Washington?  He might be Sabanized now, but he supposedly got around in the past.

    June Jones allegedly got a Hawaii volleyball player pregnant.

    Craig Bohl while @ Nebraska as an assistant

    Dennis Erickson presumably.  Because he's Dennis Fucking Erickson.

     

     

  10. On 2/18/2021 at 12:47 PM, UncleSonny said:

    Just speculating, but I wonder if he feels good about waiting and taking over when Herm retires. Herm is turning 67 this year and has two more years on his contract. If they continue to have success and they have that front office/support staff humming it would make sense to go internal hire. Pierce seems like a logical choice, maybe they even have a handshake HCIW deal. 

    Don't have to speculate much.  AP being the HC-in-training is the worst kept secret in Tempe.  Herm (and Marvin Lewis) have been grooming him since he was plucked from Long Beach Poly.  Pro Bowler, Super Bowl Champ, tied into So Cal deeply, went to college at Arizona and wound up hating UA's leadership.  He's the ASU dream coach.

    ASU landing Larry Turner-Gooden is part due to AP bringing in Chris Claiborne from USC to coach LB's at ASU.  CC and AP are friends.  Claiborne had coached LTG at Calabasus previously.  The ASU DB coach's father also runs the kid's 7 on 7 team.

    ASU needs a big year to keep momentum.  The good news for them is their roster is in really good shape.  This is, on paper, their best team since the Plummer/Tillman era.

    • Hook 'Em 9
  11. USC kind of sucks.  If the Texas DL isn't dogshit and actually can get in Daniels' face once in a while, it's a W.

    That being said, I as an ASU fan would consider it a personal favor if you would let USC win this one so Herm can gorilla fuck them later on and get full credit.

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