some have suggested we buy out the Stetson (home) game to have the pleasure of traveling to Sacramento, which makes no sense. If Sac is FCS independent for the foreseeable future, maybe an OOC series makes sense, though it’ll be curious to see if they get the cold shoulder from Big Sky schools. If they actually become FBS independent, where’s the money? There’s more fans at a WNBA game than there are dollars in that KMAX 31 tv deal.

I asked AI to simulate a monopoly game between Wood and Gary May. It predicts May as a steely poker-faced player who starts out boring, acquiring all the railroads and utilities, but who is ultimately strategizing moves in advance, calculating ROI of each property and wins most matchups. It predicts Wood enters the game with a splash, buying as many properties on the first half of the board as he can and mortgaging all of them to stay in the game without a solid strategy other talking nonstop to distract other players. Occasionally he hits it big but in most simulations he is bust by turn 20, landing on May’s Park Place Hotel. At which point he is likely to propose desperate non-traditional deals or demand a rule change such as (AI’s choice of words) parking reparations. I think we must be around turn 16 or 17. Time running out for the luck hit.

Cal Expo certainly needs investment. It used to be a really nice fairground and was allowed to fall into disrepair. As the crow flies, not that far from Sac State but not exactly walking distance from the dorms either. From a taxpayer perspective, may be a good thing because with Cal Expo involved, it means Luke Wood is not solely in charge, so it has some chance of not being screwed up. But goes on to show that his “shovel ready” plans for an “on campus” facility were always a lie… this guy’s relationship with the untruth is next level. From a construction perspective this might or might not be less expensive. That grandstand was built in 1967. Depending on what has already been done, there could be plenty of lead paint, asbestos, seismic, life safety and ADA work. My experience with this type of construction project is you don’t know what you don’t know so you have to budget for the unknown.

I’ve lived down here for 15 years. It’s not the heat that gets you, it’s the humidity.

As best I understand, Big Sky rules allow us to take 58 players to an air travel out of conference game. If Mercer buses it without a hotel stay, no limit to travel squad but with a hotel stay would follow the NCAA limit of 60. With the heat and humidity, depth is a factor. Was hoping to find a fan or alumni site to see if there was a mention of a team hotel or something but their internet footprint seems sparse. I would have thought Mercer would be promoting this as a bonus sort-of-home game with fan buses and an alumni association tailgate. But idk their official media accounts are running countdown to first home game… seems like the pregame concert series is a big draw in Macon. So idk if this will be a Mercer-heavy crowd or mostly Montgomery locals.

If you look over the last 30 years of Causeway, Davis fans boost attendance when it’s in Sac, and in some years outnumbered the home fans. But Sac fans are much less likely to come to games in Davis, even in years when tickets remained. As to why Sac fans don’t travel, I’d always assumed it was because they couldn’t get an out-of-county trip approved by their probation officer in time.

ESPN is updating to offer two streaming plans. You have your choice of using the ESPN app or the Disney+ app to access any Hulu or ESPN content you pay for (that’s their end goal btw is to get everything centralized on the D+ app)

1. What we are familiar with as ESPN+ is going to be “ESPN Select” at the $11.99/mo price point for all the stuff not on mainline cable channels.

2a. If you have an existing pay cable plan like Spectrum or Comcast or a virtual cable plan like Hulu Live TV that includes ESPN “linear networks” (the industry word for cable channels), you can watch on your cable connected TV like you always have, or just like now, you can put your cable account credentials into the ESPN app to view that “linear” content on your phone or other streaming device. No need to purchase ESPN linear content twice.

2b. NEW - If you don’t have a cable subscription, you will now be able to purchase the “ESPN Unlimited” plan (including ESPN+ and linear channels) for $29.99/mo. There will be various packages if so inclined to bundle with Disney+ and Hulu. This is actually good news for cord cutters who don’t have or want a cable bundle.

Most games are scheduled for ESPN+. Mercer on ESPN and Montana State on ESPN2. Unknown if those will be simulcast on ESPN+. Washington is on Big 10 Network, which is in the Fox Sports portfolio so I doubt it will be simulcast on ESPN+. You will either need a legacy cable subscription or Fox Sports One is their new streaming app dropping Aug 21 at $19.99/mo that I believe will include BTN.

It looks like the home games are also being broadcast over the air locally on CW 58, so maybe the camerawork will be better.

it seems despite the not so impassioned speeches from these two legislators, the SCORE bill moved procedurally closer to the House floor, though the path is less clear in the Senate. The bill provides some ground rules for NIL, some protections to athletes from bad deals, some litigation cover for the NCAA, and clarifies athletes as non-employees. Various agendas have created some odd bedfellows in congress and statehouses for sure, though I think the argument that arbitrary NCAA rules are denying the Sacramento valley a major economic boom is weak.

I compare this to trading a Camry with 20k miles in for a new Geo Metro and trying to convince people you traded up.

I suppose depends on your priorities. Atlanta probably has the most nonstop flights from the west coast. Northwest Florida Beaches, Destin/Ft Walton, and Pensacola airports are little bit longer drive from Montgomery but it’s all rural highways without much traffic. They are the sorts of airport with like 5 gates, no line for anything, and the rental car parked front row at the terminal. Might be a thing if you were looking to make it a long weekend at the beach or oyster bar.

Between Atlanta and Montgomery, there is a Buc-ee’s near Aurburn. Worth the stop if you’ve never experienced one. Keep in mind the split between Eastern and Central time is the GA/AL border. It kind of comes up by surprise driving so remember for getting back to the airport. Outside of the city, restaurants in Alabama can have smoking sections, like the old potted plant dividing smoking from not situation. It’s jarring stepping back 30+ years. Rural Alabama, Georgia, and Florida are mostly tiny counties where the main municipal funding is the lone sheriff running traffic on the highway, so mind the speed.

in Atlanta it is always rush hour and always under construction.

I only watched a few minutes but would like to point out the old dude next to coach kept yawning, the young white guy in front row of the film room having some chafing or something because he keeps adjusting his McNuggets. And the special projects coach driving around apparently without a seatbelt. Nice edit. Are all football meetings like this? The coach stating obvious facts with a room full of dudes agreeing with everything and chuckling on cue?

Southeast Aggie Fan here. Can assure you all Sac State is not a topic of discussion even among the sports crowd here except for the occasional honorable mention in the bloopers. In the absence of the Woods saying anything ridiculous this week, it seems like we had to write our own content. Here’s hoping our main man puts his collectible sneaker right back in his mouth soon. It was better reality TV that way.

that is for sure a newer nicer dorm building than I had, but I swear that is the same bed and desk set I had 20 years ago. And I see the dairy perfume is same as ever. Always fun to see a new group move in!

I haven’t seen any other sources report this and the picture is definitely not Luke Wood. That said, part of the chicken and egg Wood strategy is use football to market to out-of-state students and use those out-of-state fees to subsidize football program until it turns its imaginary multimillion dollar profits by itself. I don’t think football would be a big draw to Chinese students, but I’m sure he would like to attract full fare international students however possible. In fairness, this is not really a new strategy. UC and other research universities have been selling access to the CCP for a long time because they are willing to pay full price. I just think historically CSU has had less content of interest to the CCP.

For purposes of athletics, what is a “scholarship”? Tuition, while certainly not inexpensive, is the lesser compared to housing, fees, insurance, etc. and many California residents already qualify for discounted or free tuition based on income, with the non-tuition costs frequently being the larger challenge for an ordinary student. Do athletic scholarships include cash allowance for all the non-tuition costs like housing, fees, books, etc? And let’s say a particular recruit was already eligible for discounted tuition based on income, would the athletic scholarship count as whole or partial in that case? Said another way, could a partial athletic scholarship stack with other kinds of scholarships or financial aid to equal full cost of attendance?

my guess is that the NCAA is weary of litigation at this point. The only information I’ve seen is from twitter personalities and Sac State, so it’s possible the NCAA has more compelling evidence not released. But if that’s not the case, they may settle the case for nuisance value. But let’s say they win the battle, have they won the war? Will their sponsors stand by them? Will they have as much media value as they think or is KCRA3 the ceiling? Will they be welcomed by the FBS or face a soft boycott by the conferences as a cautionary tale? I can’t think nationally who’s in their corner other than the crowd with a general disdain for the NCAA. The meaningful forces in FBS don’t want to water down their own drink and they’ve insulted everyone in FCS.

to be clear, I do not wish for Poly to drop football. My preference would have actually been for Sac, Poly, and Davis to all be relevant at the same time and force the Big Sky center of gravity south with EWU and UM watching from the simp seats. But that wasn’t meant to be. I very much enjoy the tradition of D2 and then FCS football but I do think it will become increasingly hard to sustain in the west, so schools and conferences doing some future proofing seems prudent.

agreed. The point I was trying to make was that Wood and Marion are upwardly mobile self-preservationists. I don’t think either will hesitate to deflect responsibility on each other if desired results are not achieved and they run out of third parties to blame.

Utah makes geographic and cultural sense for Big Sky. Not sure which is more likely first, though. Davis taking football to MWC or Poly folding football.