Hey, we still have a field hockey team! Is it safe? Is baseball safe? According to the Washington Post 75 DI sports have been cut in the last year ostensibly due to the pandemic and resultant loss of income. Most if not all are “none-revenue sports” or “Olympic” sports. Most recently Minnesota and Iowa cut men’s gymnastics, men’s tennis and indoor track and field. Only 12 men’s gymnastics program are left in the entire country. Are these cuts truly necessary? Not according to Knight Commission CEO Amy Perko. Minnesota has an athletic budget of $130M. These cuts totaled $1.6M are are minuscule next to the total deficit of $65M. What is more? Most of these cuts have wound up in increasing the coaching salaries of the “revenue sports” i.e football and MBB. Some members of congress are rightly very concerned that that we may soon be non competitive in the Olympics because we rely on colleges to supply the athletes, not the federal government like most other countries and the colleges are bailing out on this. See Stanford’s recent cuts: all Olympic sports. Maybe we are lucky being mid-major? We dont need a $100M+ athletic budget to survive. So, its “give week” and I am directing my donation to: FIELD HOCKY!

Just to clarify. I was addressing the entire sport of baseball from an article in the Washington Post yesterday. Seems that the sport is less popular now than in years past. Will 12” added to the pitchers throw really help? Time will tell.

One of the main problems with baseball at any level is that many people find it downright boring. It is a slow game with long periods of nothing much happening, and then, BLAM someone finally hits the ball and wakes you up. So to try and fix this the minor league Atlantic Coast League has come up with a possible solution or improvement: move the pitching mound 12” further from the plate. This will improve “contact” and liven up the game. Also, DH allowed only as long as the starting pitcher is in the game. This will reduce the use of the very unpopular “openers” and the also increasing unpopular trend of taking out starting pitchers after 4 or 5 innings. MLB starters now average less than 5 innings and are often removed for seemingly no reason. HEY- someone has do do something to fix this game!

OK this will fix it: “Golden Grasshopper on 4: No, check that:” Golden Butterfly on me” then: hand off to UG right up the middle. We will go with our strengths this fall. We have many. UG the best!

Remember when football was played with the single wing formation? You have yo be very old!! I think UCLA was the last major power to use it, although not with an uneven line.. Then came the “T” formation which was the dominating offense for 70-80- years and here we go now evolving back toward the SW formation- direct snaps, reverses (see double), inside (buck) laterals, double passes, etc. i have not seen HR o under center this entire short season. Always the pistol-wildcat, which is of course where the single wing tail back got the ball or the fullback got the ball- direct snap. Note: the single wing QB was actually a blocking back. I know because I am too old and remember seeing UCLA use it- very well! Red Sanders must be really enjoying this trend from his grave. I really don't know why this is going on. . . .

A very sad event, but the Corona funeral service was exceptionally well done. I agree the space has its limitations, but all in all it is a very user friendly and versatile event space. Acoustics are very good as well for such a big place.

I love it! “Golden Dragonfly on Three” and what would it be with LL on the field? The Hawk cannot pass up on a name like that. . . . Too cool!

Ag alum.NC, Movie. Oh, since I (we) have become such great on-line offensive coordinators, I have a dream of may greatest play! ! HR at QB. UG at RB. TT second back or slot. OK. Imagine HR gets the snap. Fakes to UG, hands to TT who fakes thru the line. TT then pitches back to HR who throws to TT for the TD to .

Fug we all very much appreciate your expert input; but we are a small D-1 program. We do not have 8000 attendance at the Pavillion and will never have that. Gonzaga has a 6000 court. UCLA has a 13,800 at Pauley. I think we are OK with the size. Amenities we can work on. Fug you are a great resource we love you.

May be way off topic but does Davis have a sports bar or anything close to what the Grad was? Thinking of making a visit. Have not been to Davis in a long time.

Elf, I agree this isn’t high school football. TT did not play wildcat a lot in HS as far as I see. He was an excellent passer (see stats). He ran when he had to and was great with the run, option or not. In fact, he was recruited on the basis of those HS abilities. In my opinion the coaches had a unique problem or opportunity with this hybrid season, however your view. They had HR, a junior who was a very good QB and who had played well last season. They also had TT who was a great talent but unproven. So they had to start with HR who did very well! And they used TT at the wildcat to see what he could do there. He excelled. If he was told last year that he had a chance to be the next Aggie QB if he muscled up and stayed quick, he certainly did that. Put on 20 lbs of pure muscle and won the iron man competition as a QB! This is the players decision not the coaches. I think as a QB he will put fear into the opposition defense with his skill set. Injures: TT played after his RS got hit. Not serious. HR not serious. UG getting better with time (do not think it was an in game injury either). Again, all IMHO. Look forward to your thoughts. We have a lot to be happy about for Aggie football next season.

I have to disagree with NC about Tompkins. The guy had incredible passing numbers in HS, but he could also run the ball. He has not been used as a passing QB this year and yes, versus EW, he got hit in the throwing arm and still completed passes. One way to stop the defensive rush is to have a QB who can run the ball exceptionally well and even ram it right up the middle on a RO play and Tompkins has shown he can do just that. He also put on 20 lbs. since last year and won the “iron man” award on the team. He is a very strong young man and very fast. My vote is that Tompkins should be our next QB this fall. And this is with no criticisms of HR who is also a great player, but more limited than is Tompkins. And: HR can be a great WR.

NCAA v. Alston argued Wednesday before SCOTUS.
Bad call on the “targeting” but we will get over it.
So Alston was argued and the justices were all over the place in their questioning. Liberals disagreeing with liberals and conservatives agreeing with liberals. Basic question: can the NCAA prevent schools from giving “compensation” above and beyond a mere athletic scholarship? This would be in the form of computers, grad school money, education abroad money and internships, etc. But, and it is a big but, could the court just blow up the whole NCAA monopoly on college sports because it is a monopoly? Yes, but not probable. Could it effect the transfer portal? Possible (see blow-up scenario). Not likely. One interesting question from one of the justices was: what if a recruited player was offered a $500,000. “Internship” with Nike? Would that be OK? So Oregon could offer that and Oklahoma could offer a $500 internship at McDonalds. Aggies could offer a volunteer internship at the CoOp or Coffee House. Is this Fair? I find this stuff absolutely fascinating. SCOTUS is the last place that these questions should be answered. Not one of them played in the game. Nerds one and all.

I think that the NCAA “explanation” of the Transfer portal” is too incredibly complex and at least to some degree a self serving bunch of boilerplate BS. I hate the transfer portal! We will return to the afore too often mentioned Brooke Yanez. UC Davis spent a ton of effort and money to recruit her over the efforts of many other colleges. Supported her well and she proved herself extremely well at UC Davis and Oregon snatched her. Good for Brooke. Hypocrisy noted: we got Mac from Albany. Swenveld from Colo. State, Antiguewe from SJS, and who knows who else? (Excuse spelling, please) But this was not for the money. Now, with the forthcoming Alston case the USSC may well rule that the NCAA has violated longstanding anti-trust laws for its sole governing authority over all college sports. So if it rules that college athletes should be paid for their services, should a disappointed player not be able to move their services to another “employer” who would pay them more? I don't think that would be fair and that the USSC could, in effect, allow all collegiate athletes to transfer anywhere at any time. It is their choice to make. On a side note: as a USSC watcher I think this is a case where its the “guys” on the court versus the “girls,” so not partisan but gender! Guys for the NCAA. Girls for Alston, including Amy Comey Barrett and the girl libs. Very interesting case. NCAA 60-40 to win. . . .

NCAA v. Alston. Mainly involves whether the NCAA can prevent athletes from receiving any kind of payment for their play. May also effect the overall ability of the NCAA to set most of the rules of college sports which could include the transfer portal.

Well, we have the Brooke Yanez example of how the transfer portal actually works, at least in softball. Oregon gets screwed by Texas ripping off a large number of players with its coach moving to Texas. So the only logical thing for them to do is poach new players from other teams like UC Davis and others. It worked! Why only softball and minor sports? If this goes on who knows who will play where the next season? Big Supreme Court decision coming out soon that may impact this.

Based upon the incredible performances of Larison and Tompkins last Sat. I do not see the need to try and play UG against Eastern. Toe/foot injuries can be career ending if not treated very, very carefully. And, again where’s the need? I think that with Larison and Tompkins in the backfield with HR we will give our opposition fits. Hey, they are both QBs and can throw the ball and HR can run it. Tompkins is such a beast; it looked like IS players didn’t really want to tangle with him on that last TD. Untouched!

Just for the record, I definitely do not blame Brooke for her transfer and, yes, good for her. But (and I am not alone on this feeling) I have some negative feelings about the way Oregon goes about its athletic program operation. Some have called it Knight U. For all its glitzy locker rooms, training facilities, uniforms, all from a billionaire alum. and fairly aggressive recruiting tactics. I am not saying the strip club gig, but, well lets leave it there. . . . $$$ says it all. And then there is Stanford who could bury Oregon with its $$, but does not so engage and is always very classy about it’s money. Thank the lord we have Bruce Edwards!!
My only question: why do some NCAA sports allow transfer w/o penalty and others do not? Criteria? Again, me thinks its all about money.

Just Googled it: Grey will not play next season. Most athletes take 12 months to recover enough to play again. That is, if they choose to play again. Jen better hit the recruiting trail real soon. Did she ever redshirt? C

If Mac does not return we may be very thin at the point.