THE MARSHALL ISLANDS’ NEW PHENOM, OR WHY YOU SHOULDN’T BELIEVE SHIT YOU READ ON APRIL 1ST
College Football News “discovers” the next big thing in the Marshall Islands.
April 1, 2005
FURTHER NAVEL-GAZING: THE MYTH OF THE BIG 12
In another dose of offseason navel-gazing, let’s think a bit here about the Big 12, which, according to the pundit is either the most overrated conference in the nation or the most underrated. Personally, we here at EDSBS.com think the split verdict on the Big 12 comes from a number of factors, most of them being based on human factors and not on how the Big 12’s teams actually perform on the field.
1. First, most Big 12 schools exist in the heartland,, or as most sportswriters would call it, “flyover country.” Politely speaking, most Big 12 schools sit in the middle of nowheresville: Manhattan, Norman, Lubbock, Columbia, Lawrence, Waco…places that make you think of serial killers, methamphetamine rings, and a lot of empty space. This is a major PR problem, since there’s just not as many people out there to generate and echo the kind of hype you have surrounding, say, a USC, Miami, or even the kind of persistent residual respect reserved for your clearly decrepit programs at ND or Penn. State. It’s also an analytical problem for sportswriters living where most Americans live-in the corridors along the coasts, who whether they like it or not, are more likely to run into serious discussion of Michigan or Florida’s qb controversy at the local bar than, say, a hearty debate over Brad Smith’s disappointing performance in 2004 for Missouri. It’s just numbers, people, and when you come from the only part of the country with negative population growth, it’s going to show up in the most surprising little ways.
There’s no place like home. And that’s why they moved away.
2. Their bowl record doesn’t lie: 24-30 since the inception of the conference. That’s atrocious, especially given the proliferation of smaller bowls… (more…)
BARNETT WATCH, CONT. : ENTER THE IRS.
Now it’s the IRS wanting to take a look at Gary Barnett. The reason Colorado keeps hanging on here is a 4 million dollar plus buyout clause in Barnett’s contract; we’re betting the lawyer who typed that one up is being stretched on a rack somewhere deep in the recesses of the Boulder campus right now. How much bad press and how many investigations will add up to more than the fiscal cost of getting rid of Barnett? We’re guessing this puts the total a lot closer than it was before.
IRS wants a word with Gary Barnett. He only wishes we meant the wrestler.
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