Sports By Brooks: Bloggers who are reinventing
sports media. Might the Wiz be on the list?
Brian Murphy and Chadd Cripe, Idaho Statesman: Reports continue to swirl that the Mountain West Conference will invite Boise State to become a member in June, but extending an offer to the Broncos will require the approval of seven of the nine athletic directors in the Mountain West. Plus, what you need to know about Mountain West expansion talk.
Darren Everson and Aditi Kinkhabwala, Wall Street Journal: Rutgers doesn't have much of a championship tradition. Its stadium doesn't seat 100,000 — more like half that. And it's not exactly driveable to Iowa City, unless you've got 17 hours to kill. But the school makes more sense in the Big Ten than you may think.
Austin Ward, Knoxville News Sentinel: The fastest player in college football: Florida running back Jeff Demps ran a blistering 10.06-second time to win the 100 meters at the Southeastern Conference outdoor track and field championships.
Dave Hooker, Knoxville News Sentinel: Lane Kiffin, in an interview that will air Tuesday on HBO's "Real Sports," on his decision to leave Tennessee for USC: "It's part of the business."
Dave Henry, Amarillo Globe-News: Steve Kragthorpe called getting fired by Louisville "a great blessing."
Jake Trotter, Oklahoman: The need for teams to expand TV revenue was what brought the Big 12 Conference together. It could also be what rips the league apart. Plus, a look at the TV contracts of the six Bowl Championship Series conferences and how Big 12 TV revenue was divided in 2007.
Steven M. Sipple, Lincoln Journal Star: Gary Barnett, who has coached in the Big Ten (Northwestern) and Big 12 (Colorado), said a move to the Big Ten "would be very appealing to a school like Nebraska."
Gil LeBreton, Fort Worth Star-Telegram: It's all speculation now, but the Big Ten is after a big fish, and there isn't a bigger fish in the pond than Texas.
Chuck Carlton, Dallas Morning News: Texas athletic director DeLoss Dodds favors a Longhorn Network over a conference network. "Texas people would rather be able to go to the Texas network and catch all of our sports and all of our events and all of our academic side rather than going to the conference network, where one-twelfth of the inventory will be Texas." Plus, the likelihood of Texas coach-in-waiting Will Muschamp leaving after the 2010 season has probably increased now that Dodds has agreed to a contract extension.
Dennis Dodd, CBS Sports.com: Missouri thinks it has done enough to earn an invitation to the Big Ten.
Manhattan Mercury: A team wishing to vacate the Big 12 will need time and money.
Dick Harmon, Deseret News: Expansion in one paragraph: If the Pacific 10 expands to 12 teams, Utah will be one of the two and Brigham Young will not. If the Big Ten expands and takes Nebraska and Missouri from the Big 12 and succeeds in getting Rutgers and Notre Dame, the college sports landscape will look nothing like what we currently enjoy. Things would explode.
Angelique S. Chengelis, Detroit News: Lloyd Carr is concerned what Big Ten expansion could do to the Michigan-Ohio State rivalry. "If you're going to go to even 12 teams, we would have two divisions ... we would have a playoff game ... For Michigan and Ohio State, that's not one of the positive things about it. Are you going to put them in the same division? You certainly are going to maintain that game every year. How it's going to play out as far as what divisions, that's for athletic directors to decide."
Greg Hansen, Arizona Daily Star: Pac-10 teams have begun upgrading facilities using TV revenue.
Jon Wilner, College Hotline: If you think the last month has been busy, fasten your seat belts for the next few weeks.
Kate Hairopoulos, Dallas Morning News: Expansion could open the doors for Southern Methodist and Texas Christian.
Jeff Rice, Centre Daily Times: Penn State's "seat transfer and equity plan," which includes a restructuring of seating and mandatory increases in yearly giving levels, is squeezing some longtime fans out of their seats in Beaver Stadium.
Mike Hlas, Cedar Rapids Gazette: Should young athletes specialize in only one sport? Iowa's Kirk Ferentz thinks it's a bad idea. "You've got to let kids be kids."
Ferd Lewis, Honolulu Advertiser: A Houston high school was caught using Hawaii's trademarked "H" on its helmets.
Bob Condotta, Seattle Times: The Pacific 10 Conference will unveil a new logo this summer, but if you want a sneak peek, click here. Plus, renovation of Washington's Husky Stadium is likely to decrease capacity from its current 72,500.
Christian Caple, Seattle Post-Intelligencer: Washington could be playing its home games at Qwest Field in 2011 and 2012 because of the renovation of Husky Stadium.
Online Degree: The 50 most inspiring coaches on Twitter, listed mostly by current number of followers.
Scott M. Reid, Orange County Register: NCAA violations could cost USC $4 million.
Jon Solomon, Birmingham News: Alabama's new deal with Nike — worth nearly $30 million — is among the most lucrative in college sports. Only Michigan, Notre Dame and North Carolina get more in apparel deals.
Richard Piersol, Lincoln Journal Star: A railroad service to take Nebraska fans from Omaha to Lincoln and back could succeed commercially, according to a study.
Rob Moseley, Eugene Register-Guard: Work to remove the 2% crown and install new FieldTurf in Oregon's Autzen Stadium is scheduled to be completed by July 15.
Norm Maves, Oregonian: A cut above: Dan Fouts and Gary Zimmerman were among former Oregon standouts honoring longtime Eugene barber Pete Peterson.
Matt Tait, Lawrence Journal-World: Kansas defensive tackle Jamal Greene was dismissed from the team after being arrested on charges of attempted aggravated robbery.
KCBD: Scott McLaughlin, an attorney representing the family of Craig James, said the ESPN analyst is not to blame for Mike Leach being fired by Texas Tech. "Mike Leach is the person who is responsible for his situation today. Not Texas Tech. Not Craig James."
Paul Myerberg, Pre-Snap Read: Picking up the countdown with No. 111 Memphis, No. 110 Washington State (actress Kim Catrall has been the most successful cougar of the past two years) and No. 109 Florida International.
Follow Jay Christensen on Twitter and join the Wiz on Facebook. To bypass registrations, go to Bug Me Not. Interested in sponsoring the site, have a tip, complaint or idea? Perhaps you would like to have the Wiz as a guest on your radio show or podcast. Contact: jayzuma (at) gmail.com.
Comments