Sunday, June 21, 2009

Ditch the FOX Reruns

Why watch their garbage when you can read mine?

Here's something to listen to while you read:



Here in the Metroplex there are two AM radio stations that are polar opposites.

On the political right is KSKY (660). Now that school's out, I catch a little of Dennis Prager now and then. The guy seems to make a lot of sense. Might want to pause Free Bird while you watch this:





On the left is Rational Radio (1360). You know the saying, right? Keep your friends close and your enemies closer. Even hard-line conservatives should listen now and then.

There's this promo they run occasionally. It's an exchange between show hosts from an actual broadcast. One guy's asking another if it would be the worst day of his life if his wife/girlfriend came home one day and told him she was pregnant. The guy replies that no, it wouldn't be the worst day of his life. Then someone chimes in "It would be the worst day of his life if she said she wasn't getting an abortion." They all cracked up. Ha-friggin'-ha...

Michael Phelps nearly took down Ian Crocker's 100 fly WR in Montreal:



Garrett's got more race videos and interviews at Floswimming here.

Want to carry around results from every meet ever swum in your pocket? If you just shouted "Yes!", then: a) you need therapy, and b) I've got news for you!

There's a 128 GB flash drive coming out soon. It will only cost $547. I know you'd been saving that money for a new suit. Since LZR's are so hard to find right now, go ahead and spend the dough on the flash drive...it's geek-a-rific!

An article in the Seattle Times points out what we already know about athletic department finances. Read the article (and 70+ comments) here.

Washington athletic director Scott Woodward says he has always pointed out the tuition waivers when asked and doesn't think it invalidates Washington's larger claim — that it doesn't receive any funding from the general university budget or general taxes for its athletic department. He also says "we didn't ask for" the tuition waivers but because they are available, will take them to allow the school to field more women's sports. WSU led the fight for the tuition waivers, saying at the time it needed some financial relief to comply with the mandate to equally fund athletic programs for both men and women.

Washington cited the self-sufficiency of the athletic department in its news release announcing the elimination of the men's and women's swimming programs, saying that expenses needed to be cut to allow the department to remain able to pay all of its own bills. Actual operating expenses at UW for 2007-08 were $60.6 million, operating revenues $64 million.

First posted about this back in March. Seems they want to make Double Dutch a sport. Maybe the NCAA can add that to their list of emerging sports. I'm not too keen on most of them, but I'd support a combination or two. How about Synchronized Equestrian? Maybe Double Dutch Archery?

Whoa! I'm going off on one of those rare tangents. Must focus.

Seems Tes Siarnacki and friends are forcing their values on young people in New York City. I know - it's hard to imagine that kind of thing happening anywhere in our country, let alone N.Y.C., right? Read more in a New York Times article here.

Tes Siarnacki, a recess coordinator at a school in East Boston, regularly encourages older girls to referee boy-dominated soccer games, and assigns older boys to monitor double Dutch jump rope, which is played mostly by girls.

Can't you just see guys like Leon & Junior making those tough calls over at the Billie Jean King Jump Rope Venue?

Here's a newsflash from the NCAA on football salaries:

Spending on coaches’ salaries and scholarships had no significant relationship to success or increased revenue.

The study also confirmed earlier hypotheses that spending on athletics has no relationship to academic quality, and successful athletics teams do not prompt more alumni giving.

They're saying we can still put the same product on the field for less money...and still have enough for a swim team?!?!?! Outrageous!!! Read more here.

Ready for objective reporting in the mainstream media? Looks like you'll have to wait a little longer. There's got to be a reason that Florida's state association isn't working with Nancy Hogshead-Makar. You won't find it in a First Coast News report/video here.

It's a great example of how so-called "experts" can con people with statistics. Did our reporter ever think to question the numbers? Won't more boys - thousands more? - be effected by the 40% game cuts at the JV level?

Slow reader? Finish it out with this:



Have a defibrillator handy for this one. Another athletic department didn't take very good care of their money. No shock advised? Good! Seems Kansas State's in trouble. Read more here.

The audit, released by the Kansas Board of Regents on Friday, describes thousands of dollars paid to companies owned by current and former university employees. They include head football coach Bill Snyder; former athletic director Tim Weiser; and Bob Krause, a former vice president for institutional advancement and former athletic director.

Thirteen payments totaling $845,000 to Snyder, Weiser, Krause and others had no supporting documentation, auditors said.

Here's more about college sports and money. Can you guess which university's athletic department generated the most revenue last year? That's right, UT! Read more here.

Here's how the top ten fared:

1. Texas – $120.3 million
2. Ohio State University – $118 million
3. Florida – $106 million
4. University of Michigan – $99 million
5. University of Wisconsin – $93.5 million
6. Pennsylvania State University – $91.6 million
7. Auburn University – $89.3 million
8. University of Alabama - $88.9 million
9. University of Tennessee – $88.7 million
10. Oklahoma State University – $88.6 million


Sigurd Hofmann, leader of a team that discovered a new element, needs to come up with a name for element 112. Let's hope it's not something too basic, like Hofmannium. Since it's really big (as far as atoms go) and isn't around for long (milliseconds), how about Twitterium? Read more here.

Not satisfied with just fourteen women's varsity sports at UC Davis (men have eleven), three students sued to force the university to add women's field hockey. Read more here.

TWST "A" Results

NISCA is no longer accepting applications for swimming All-America rankings. View applications already processed here.

Father's Day Then/Now pics:





Anonymous is reporting that Mary Beck is transferring to A&M.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Paul has a verbal to AF hopefully john cornyn, kay bailey and sam johnson do the same

Lion King said...

Well, big potpourri sludgepot, lots of neat news (loved the study showing coach salaries and scholarship #s at Football Universities have no statistical correlation - that IS what you said, right?), but when you emailed there was BIG news, I thought you meant about George Block leaving NISD.

Did you not get the email? I'll fwd it.

Lion King said...

Let me add a P.S.

"Spending on coaches’ salaries and scholarships had no significant relationship to success or increased revenue."

But it -would- impact the bottom line.

Here's an idea: Set a salary structure in place, let's use roundish numbers for simplicity.

Coach's base salary = $280,000

Games played = 10

"Passing grade" of 70 (7W-3L) gets the base salary. I mean, he "passed", right? 8 wins at $40k per win, simple.

Each W or L on the other side of the 70 would be plus or minus $40k.

Bowl game invite? Major = +$50k for a win, zero for a loss, minor bowl = $25k/$0k. Loss to big rival = -$50k, win over big rival = +$50k (in addition to or outside of regular salary).

Oh, yeah. Graduation coefficient. Percentage of players graduating on-time each year (transfers and dropouts count against) will be the percentage of the TOTAL salary package you get.

One more thing. Drop any sports, male or female, during the year, lose $50k; add a sport -without- dropping any, add $50k.

Drop men's swimming, and you get a midnight visit from Big Tony from Jersey.

I like it.

Lion King said...

Obviously I meant -7- games @ $40k. My bad.

Deer Slayer said...

We do miss the camo shorts on big Leon. Using the ray to "deck-change" was greatness. Your boys have grown into pretty big men, good job. happy father's day

Anonymous said...

9 of the top 10 schools based on athletic budget all have mens & womens swimming. Interesting how all of the schools also would be considered Top football programs over the last 30 years and some longer.
I guess AD's should look at the list and see that having a mens swim team seems to all but ensure a top athletic program and a big budget!