Episode 144 - Rockhurst SImulates Gordon Play

Game 7 of the 2014 World Series: Bottom of the 9th inning, 2 outs, Royals down 1 run to Giants.  Royals outfielder Alex Gordon is held at third as the Giants relay a throw from center.

Did the Royals make the right decision by holding Gordon at third or should Gordon have tried to reach home and tie the game?

At Rockhurst University (a DII Jesuit school in Kansas City, directly across Troost from UMKC), the baseball team, with cooperation from the Kansas City Star, tested what could have happened if Gordon tried to reach home.

In 5 out of 6 trials, Gordon would have been tagged out at home plate.  Game over.



Mike and Tim discuss these tests.



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Episode 143 - Bracketology Rant

Tim has a few issues about Bracketology - specifically that late January is too early to start talking about who goes to the Big Dance in March.

Mike has a similar issue with guys picking next year's Super Bowl winners - less than 24 hours after the Super Bowl has been played!

So, on today's show, Tim rants and Mike piles on.



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Episode 142 - Majoring in Sports

Wouldn't it be cool to get a bachelor's degree in sports?

That's what one person suggested as a possibility for college athletes, putting it akin to actors studying theater or musicians studying music.  Lost in this suggestion is the fact that anyone at any age can act or perform music, but sports are generally the purview of the young.

Mike and Tim discuss the merits and drawbacks of such a major.

Fair use: Because Tim mentioned "Surfin' Bird" by The Trashmen, during editing Mike kept thinking of a certain episode of Family Guy, in which Brian and Stewie get annoyed with Peter's continued playing of said song, take the record and smash it up in a brilliant Office Space homage.  That homage featured the song "Still" by Geto Boys, and we close with this rap masterpiece.



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Episode 141 - Proposed Changes to NBA Playoffs

Mike and Tim discuss proposed changes to the NBA playoffs.

Basically, conferences would be disregarded and the top 16 teams record-wise would make the playoffs regardless of conference.

If these changes were to be implemented this season, as of 2/22 the 16 playoff teams would look like this:

1. Golden State Warriors .811
2. Atlanta Hawks .786
3. Memphis Grizzlies .736
4. Houston Rockets .673
5. Toronto Raptors .673
6. Portland Trail Blazers .667
7. Los Angeles Clippers .661
8. Dallas Mavericks .649
9. Chicago Bulls .625
10. San Antonio Spurs .618
11. Cleveland Cavaliers .614
12. Washington Wizards .589
13. Milwaukee Bucks .564
14. Oklahoma City Thunder .545
15. Phoenix Suns .518
16. New Orleans Pelicans .509

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Episode 140 - More Potpourri

In today's hodgepodge of topics, Mike and Tim discuss the following:

- Tim's batsu game.  Tim has decided to save his free pass for another time and take his most recently assigned punishment: going to Planet Comicon and getting a signature.  Unlike Mike last year, Tim is free to choose whose autograph to collect.

Here's a taste of what Tim will look forward to at Planet Comicon, courtesy of Mike's friends Bill Butts and Sam Tady from the 2013 Planet Comicon:


Also, we discuss Gregg Popovich becoming the 10th coach in NBA history to reach 1,000 wins.

And some college basketball coaching deaths with Dean Smith (KU alum and longtime UNC coach) and Jerry Tarkanian (most notably UNLV) passing away just prior to this session.

One last piece of trivia: during this recording session, Mike and Tim engaged in a round of a board game called Tokaido.

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Episode 139 - Cupcake Scheduling in College Football

You may recall with the first ever College Football Playoff that Texas Christian (TCU) and Baylor were left out of the four-team tournament.  Some argue that it was mainly because the Big 12 Conference, which is home to TCU and Baylor and sits at 10 teams, is 2 teams shy of being able to host a conference title game.

Perhaps more damaging to the Horned Frogs, and especially the Bears, is the fact that both teams played a less-than-stellar non-conference schedule.

The troubling practice of "cupcake scheduling" is not a new issue in college football, but it is a problem, one that affects perceptions about certain teams that do this.

The Southeastern Conference (SEC) is aware of this issue, and have now mandated that, starting with the 2016 season, all of its member teams play at least one team from another Power 5 conference (ACC, Big Ten, Big 12, Pac-12 and Notre Dame) in their non-conference.

Should power conferences follow the SEC's lead?  Also, who are the worst offenders?  Mike and Ryland discuss.



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Episode 138 - Pro Football HOF Class of 2015 Reaction

Mike and Ryland discuss the Pro Football Hall of Fame class of 2015.

To put simply, Mike is not happy with this year's class.



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Mike's Plan for Promotion and Relegation

This was originally published on the former "Ski Dawg's Sports Zone" blog which I briefly ran.  It's being re-published here for the benefit of a private Twitter-based promotion and relegation discussion group.

The data below is somewhat dated, but still quite relevant.

"I am a non-English football fan (a Villa supporter of course) and I approve of promotion and relegation. I wish we had it in North America as well as I would love to to see the poorest performing teams in the MLS relegated to the NASL." - Stephen Sharp, an Aston Villa fan from the United States, on Facebook

It's a reality everywhere else in the world.  There are different ways to do it.  So, what's up with North America - the United States and Canada combined - not getting on board?

Say what you will about the US losing its 2022 World Cup bid to Qatar because of money.  This issue is a very clearly stated reason the US did not get that bid.

I am talking about promotion and relegation.  Or, in the case of North America, the total lack thereof.

Promotion and relegation is already well-established in soccer leagues around the world.  Once you've exposed yourself to it, it's actually quite simple: if you do well, you move up a level; conversely, if you suck, you go down a level.

For some reason, the US and Canada have not caught on to this concept.  But they'll need to, and soon.



Reality #1: With the questionable "promotion" of NASL second-bottom finisher Montreal Impact (it's better described as "pay-to-play") to MLS next season, the North American top flight (itself a concession to FIFA for the US hosting the 1994 World Cup) risks further pissing off FIFA by exceeding the sport's international governing body's top-flight cap of 20 teams.

Reality #2: Once you get to 20, there will definitely be more cities wanting to play in the top flight.  Promotion and relegation gives these cities that opportunity.  Further, FIFA's own literature states that promotion and relegation is "the essence of the game."

"As a fan of a non-Football League side (outside of the top 4 levels in England), many clubs have dreams of moving up the English pyramid. AFC Wimbledon came from the ninth tier to reach League Two (D4) in 10 years. Under this idea, would promotion stop at the Championship (D2), or throughout the Football League, since there no longer may be much incentive to promote." - FlyerzFan, talking about England's Premier League potentially scrapping promotion and relegation, thus Americanizing said league, on Yahoo

Reality #3: Unlike American football, baseball, basketball, or hockey, soccer is a truly international sport and we have to play by their rules.  The typical American major league structure - a single division split into 2 conferences of 3-4 divisions each with the same 30-32 teams playing it out every year - WILL NOT WORK for soccer.  There is no way MLS will ever be allowed to field 30-32 teams at the top level.

Reality #4: Here's how serious FIFA is about getting North America to join the rest of the world on this issue: Upon meeting with President Obama, FIFA President Sepp Blatter specifically asked when the US would adopt promotion and relegation.

Hell, even Australia, another country with a non-pro-rel sports tradition, is moving toward instituting promotion and relegation.

Reality #5: Many current MLS players, especially those who have played in Europe, are in favor of a promotion and relegation system.  Most importantly, so are American soccer fans, especially if they've been exposed to the international game.

Reality #6: Without promotion and relegation, lower level leagues have no incentive to actually try to compete.  Whereas in the top tier, without relegation teams that are not competing have to play meaningless games.  Take baseball for example: a September game between the KC Royals and the Baltimore Orioles would have much more meaning - and more excitement - if either of these teams were actually threatened with being relegated to AAA and replaced by a team like the Albuquerque Isotopes.

Reality #7: Adding promotion and relegation to MLS would give that league a unique feel, one you won't find in the NFL, MLB, NBA and NHL.  Think of the start of promotion and relegation as a really cool novelty which fans will embrace.


These are the realities.  Now, here are the excuses:

Excuse #1: MLS is a single-entity league, thus relegation would be a breach of contract.

Response: You can still set up a promotion and relegation model within the confines of a single-entity.  That, or you can get rid of the single-entity and move toward independent clubs (like in England; also, this is what the NASL is trying to do).  I do give some credit to MLS Commissioner Don Garber for at least being open to the idea of promotion and relegation in the long-term.

Excuse #2: Potential owners don't want to spend millions of dollars on a MLS team just to see them get relegated.

Response: At least 3 MLS teams (CD Chivas USA, Colorado Rapids, and NY Red Bulls) share ownership with teams that participate in leagues with promotion and relegation (Chivas Guadalajara, Arsenal, and Red Bull Salzburg (and all other Red Bull teams), respectively).  Further, at least 4 more MLS owners (recently "promoted" Portland Timbers, Seattle Sounders, and Vancouver Whitecaps, as well as Sporting KC) have stated that they're at least open to promotion and relegation.

Excuse #3: The lower divisions of North American soccer are unstable.

Response: The current Division 2 league in North America is the NASL, and they have just completed their first year of play.  I see great potential for stability in this league, as opposed to the USL, which occupies divisions 3 (USL Pro) and 4 (PDL) and has a not-so-pleasant history with teams going out of business.  Further, NASL is open to the idea of setting up a promotion and relegation system with MLS.

Excuse #4: If MLS went to a promotion and relegation system, there would be the risk of a big-city team, namely NY Red Bulls or LA Galaxy, going down and that would be bad.

Response: This is a multi-parter:

• (a) Of the nine remaining MLS charter members (Colorado, Columbus, DC United, FC Dallas, LA Galaxy, New England, NY Red Bulls, San Jose, Sporting KC), only one has yet to win a major honor (MLS Cup, Supporters' Shield, US Open Cup/Canadian Championship, CONCACAF Champions' League), and that would be NY Red Bulls.
• (b) The National Football League hasn't had a team in Los Angeles since 1995, when the Rams moved to St. Louis and the Raiders went back to Oakland.  Despite the league's recent machinations to return to LA, the NFL is doing just fine without it.
• (c) Assuming New York does wind up bringing NY Cosmos into MLS, both New York (Cosmos and Red Bulls) and LA (Galaxy and Chivas) would have 2 MLS teams.  So, if one went down, the other would theoretically stay up, thus protecting that city's place in MLS.  And, if you want to get anal about it, USL Pro also featured teams in these two cities (now defunct FCNY and barely functional LA Blues, respectively).

So, how do we do this?



Step 1: Fire both USSF President Sunil Gulati and MLS President Mark Abbott.  Gulati is seen as having a massive conflict of interest as the President of USSF (the American equivalent of England's FA) and as President of MLS side New England Revolution.  Abbott has been the most vocal opponent of promotion and relegation, making him an immediate gots-to-go situation.

Further, tell the USL to "piss off" and just let them do their own thing.  There is so much instability in that league, not to mention they're actively looking for expansion team owners online.  How can anyone take you seriously with a track record like that?

One last thing, and this is an annoying feature of North American sports that I'd personally like to see done away with period: stop referring to cities and/or teams as "markets."  Fans are more than just customers, especially in soccer.  Don't treat them as such.

Step 2: Eliminate conferences.  MLS has got to model themselves more off the traditional European model, not the American model they've been trying to use since their inception.  The American model works well for other sports, but not in soccer.  So, screw conferences and go to single table.

"In my wildest dreams I see us (NASL) operating such a successful Division 2 that there’s a public clamor for promotion and relegation (with MLS)." - David Downs, NASL Commissioner

Step 3: Since MLS and NASL have at least hinted at being open to the idea of promotion and relegation, and MLS' single-entity setup is seen as a hinderance to that, just have MLS buy out NASL.  However, this cannot be like the NFL and AFL merging, creating two parallel conferences.  In order for promotion and relegation to work, there needs to be a clear hierarchy.  So, NASL essentially becomes MLS2 (although I like the NASL name, so in my example, we'll keep it).  Then, to even things out, relegate the appropriate number of teams from MLS1 to MLS2/NASL.  Using the current standings of both leagues as a guide, and taking into account NASL's announced expansion teams in San Antonio and Ottawa, the new setup would look something like this:

MLS1	MLS2/NASL
Chicago Fire	Atlanta Silverbacks
Colorado Rapids	Carolina RailHawks FC
Columbus Crew	CD Chivas USA
DC United	FC Edmonton
FC Dallas	Fort Lauderdale Strikers
Houston Dynamo	Minnesota Stars FC
Los Angeles Galaxy	Montreal Impact
New York Red Bulls	New England Revolution
Philadelphia Union	Ottawa (NASL)
Portland Timbers	Puerto Rico Islanders
Real Salt Lake	San Antonio Scorpions FC
San Jose Earthquakes	Tampa Bay Rowdies
Seattle Sounders FC	Toronto FC
Sporting Kansas City	Vancouver Whitecaps FC

Yellow indicates MLS teams relegated to MLS2/NASL based on 2011 MLS standings; Aqua indicates announced NASL expansion teams; Pink for Montreal, a 2011 NASL team being "promoted" to MLS for 2012.

What's really neat about this setup is that when more teams come in, you can adjust the size of the two divisions accordingly but not exceeding the FIFA-imposed 20 in the top tier.  If the second division becomes too congested (using England's D2, Football League Championship, as an example, there are 24 teams in that league at any given time), you can create a third division, and so on with promotion and relegation between those divisions as well.  If you want to regionalize the leagues at the D3 or D4 level (examples include MLS3 East; MLS3 West; MLS3 Canada), that's perfectly fine.

Looking at the cities mentioned in the "Watch as I destroy this guy" article:

• Atlanta, Miami, San Antonio and Tampa would already be in by virtue of their existing NASL teams, as would Puerto Rico, Raleigh-Durham, Minneapolis-St. Paul, Edmonton and Ottawa (and, potentially, Baltimore, which is constantly rumored to be returning the team formerly known as Crystal Palace Baltimore to NASL play).
• Existing/planned teams such as those in Charlotte, New York (Cosmos), Orlando and Rochester could be brought in, but would have to start in the lower division.
• Detroit, Phoenix, St. Louis, San Diego and any other city not already listed could be granted expansion teams, but like the aforementioned cities they'd have to start in the lower division.
• I would avoid Las Vegas like the plague because of the whole gambling issue.

In addition to these cities, further expansion and/or creation of further lower divisions can include the following:

• NASL Commissioner David Downs mentions the following cities in his interview with the New York Times: Sacramento and Cincinnati in addition to Phoenix and San Diego.
• If you want to put additional teams in Chicago, the Bay Area, and any other large city (over 5 million metropolitan area population), have at it.
• All cities that are now or were ever "Grand Slam Cities" (cities with all 4 NFL, MLB, NBA and NHL) should be considered.  This adds Cleveland (whose NFL owner also owns Aston Villa FC in England; I'm all for the creation of Aston Villa Cleveland) and Pittsburgh (home to USL Pro Pittsburgh Riverhounds) to the list.
• All 2022 World Cup bid cities should be considered.  This further adds Indianapolis (Racing Indy FC movement) and Nashville to the list.
• Other cities with existing Big Four teams not already listed: Buffalo (considered a different metro area from Rochester), Calgary, Jacksonville, Memphis, Milwaukee (which would include Green Bay), New Orleans, Oklahoma City, and Winnipeg.

If you want to guarantee that none of these teams will suffer from being relegated, there would still be:

• some amount of revenue sharing among all of the teams within the single-entity. 
• a guarantee that they wouldn't be relegated out of the lowest MLS division.

Granted, those last bits are not true promotion and relegation, which would expose crappy teams to a potentially devastating fate, but it's the best we can do with what we have.

Step 4a: This is the version of promotion and relegation I like best:

• the bottom 2 teams in MLS1 are automatically relegated to MLS2/NASL
• the top 2 teams in MLS2/NASL are automatically promoted to MLS1
• the third-bottom team in MLS1 would be subject to a playoff game with the winner of an MLS2/NASL playoff between teams 3-6.  The loser of that playoff goes to MLS2/NASL; the winner to MLS1
• when you first get started, institute Scottish-style promotion and relegation rules which require stadiums to be of a certain size (in Scotland, at least 10,000) to gain promotion.
• if other divisions are added (third division, etc.), institute the same principles as stated above.

Step 4b: This is an alternate version of promotion and relegation that I also think may work, and this one preserves traditional playoffs in the lower tier(s):

• the bottom team in MLS1 is automatically relegated to MLS2/NASL
• the top MLS2/NASL team is automatically promoted to MLS1
• if the playoff winner in MLS2/NASL is a team other than the top team, that team is also promoted and the second-bottom MLS1 team is relegated
• optional: the second-place team in MLS2/NASL is automatically promoted to MLS1, the second-bottom MLS1 team is automatically relegated to MLS2/NASL, meaning a third MLS1 team could be relegated to MLS2/NASL depending on the playoff winner.
• if other divisions are added, institute the same principles as states above.
• using this year's finishes, promotion and relegation would look like this:
• MLS-NASL: 
• Carolina RailHawks (NASL regular season champs) promoted
• Minnesota Stars (NASL playoff champions) promoted
• New England Revolution (MLS second-bottom team) relegated
• Vancouver Whitecaps (MLS bottom team) relegated
• Optional: Puerto Rico Islanders (NASL second-place team) promoted
• Optional: Toronto FC (MLS third-bottom team) relegated
• NASL-USL Pro:
• Orlando City (USL Pro regular season and playoffs champions) promoted
• Atlanta Silverbacks (NASL bottom team) relegated
• Optional: Wilmington Hammerheads (USL Pro second-place team) promoted
• Optional: Montreal Impact (NASL second-bottom) relegated
• below D3 (USL Pro) is too clusterfuckish for me to contemplate right now, so we'll restrict this promotion and relegation model to D3 and above.

Step 5: I would keep the playoffs in MLS1 because that's a feature of American sports culture.  Borrowing from Derek Richey's "simulated promotion and relegation" as illustrated in the video above, the MLS2/NASL champion would get a berth in the playoffs, as would the US Open Cup winner (the US equivalent of the FA Cup).  Thus, the MLS1 playoff tree would look something like this:

• Wild Card round match between the MLS2/NASL champion and the seventh-best MLS1 team.
• Quarterfinal round matches (two-leg):
• 1 seed vs. the Wild Card round winner
• 4 seed vs. 5 seed
• 2 seed vs. US Open Cup winner (if USOC winner is not in MLS1 top 7; otherwise, this goes to the eighth-best MLS1 team)
• 3 seed vs. 6 seed
• Semifinal round matches (two-leg):
• Winner of 1/WC vs. winner of 4/5
• Winner of 2/OC vs. winner of 3/6
• Finals (two-leg)

Step 6 (optional): One of my favorite features of English soccer is the Carling Cup, which is contested by ALL 92 teams in the top 4 tiers of English soccer (Premier League, Football League Championship, Football League 1, Football League 2).  While the MLS Cup is the kinda-sorta equivalent of this, it's still limited to MLS teams who make the playoffs.  I would at least entertain the possibility of instituting a season-long Carling Cup-style tourney with ALL teams in the MLS family.

"I for one think relegation and promotion is a great idea. If we want soccer to grow in the US we would be smart to adopt a similar system. Instead of propped up teams in big cities you would see where the sport has its true fn base. I am an owner of a 4th tier (PDL or NPSL) team in the USA and as much as I want to dream about growth and making it to the big leagues we can't. The "system" assures that as long as I am not as financially blessed as someone else, we can have the best coaches, players and ideas and not threaten the establishment. Typical American BAD IDEAS. By the way I'm American." - Jeffrey, on Yahoo

This is how I think North American soccer finally achieves promotion and relegation and joins the rest of the world in doing so.  My ideas may be subject to change, but for the most part I like it.  Any way you do it, promotion and relegation has to happen and, in the next 10 years (provided anybody's actually listening), will happen.

Episode 137 - Super Bowl Review and Batsu Game

"How many?"
"Something like 136?"
"What?  Something like 136?!  What does that mean anyway?  Something like 136?  Does that include me?"
"Um, 137."
"I'M 137?!?!"

Today's episode was recorded on February 14, also known as St. Archuleta's Day.



In today's episode, Mike and Ryland discuss the most recent Super Bowl, which saw New England beat Seattle.  Ryland (who, unlike Mike, actually saw the game) breaks down the game.

They also issue Tim his solo batsu game for picking Seattle in his original set of picks:

Just as Mike had to go to Planet Comicon in March 2014 and fetch the autograph of John Ratzenberger, Tim will likewise be going to Planet Comicon 2015.  Unlike Mike, Tim has not been assigned a specific celebrity to get an autograph from - he is free to choose any celebrity in attendance for the autograph.




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Episode 136 - Know Your Mid-Majors: Update #1

When we started the podcast, we did a 27 part miniseries called Know Your Mid-Majors, where we better acquainted ourselves with the about 300 schools that are in NCAA Division I but not part of one of the Big Five conferences.

Today is our first update:

• First off, the University of Texas-Pan American (a WAC rival to Mike's alma mater, UMKC) is undergoing some changes this summer and will have a new name: University of Texas-Rio Grande Valley.  This name change also comes with a new nickname (Vaqueros, but this is up for debate and potential student vote).

Now, for some non-news regarding mid-majors:

• 2015 is the earliest the University of North Dakota (currently nameless; formerly the Fighting Sioux) can get a new nickname.  So far, there's no news to report on this.
• The Highlanders of the New Jersey Institute of Technology (NJIT) are still without a conference to call home.  Geographically, the America East and NEC are logical potential homes for them.

We will bring back KYMM whenever there is a newsworthy change to the ranks of the mid-majors.



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Episode 135 - The List: Must-See Sports Venues (North America)

Today Mike and Tim do The List.  Today's edition: must-see sports venues.

Stipulations: only North American venues were allowed (so the Emirates and Villa Park are out), and only venues currently in usage were allowed (so the abandoned-and-not-sure-what-to-do-with-it Houston Astrodome and the demolished Old Busch Stadium are also out).

Ultimately, the winner: Notre Dame Stadium, the football home of the Fighting Irish of the University of Notre Dame in South Bend, Indiana.

Fair use: because Notre Dame is our winner, we close with the famous Notre Dame fight song.



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WSC supports #PromotionRelegationDay

As we've discussed often on this podcast, promotion and relegation is the essence of football/soccer.  It is an important part of every country that sponsors the Beautiful Game - except for North America (United States and Canada combined), where the D1 league actively fights against it while the D2 league, a D4 league and the national team coach have all come out in the past year stating they're in favor of transitioning towards a pro/rel system.

Pro/rel advocates have designated February 7 as Promotion/Relegation Day.  Here's how it works:

1. Take a picture of yourself watching a match from a country that allows pro/rel.  
2. Post the picture on social media with the hashtag #PromotionRelegationDay.

As our regular listeners know, we're fans of the English game on the podcast.  England has a very active schedule today that features the following selected fixtures:

• Premier League
• Tottenham-Arsenal (North London Derby)
• Everton-Liverpool (Merseyside Derby)
• Aston Villa-Chelsea
• Man City-Hull City
• Football League Championship (D2)
• Brighton - Nottingham Forest
• Sheffield Wednesday - Cardiff
• Watford - Blackburn Rovers
• Football League 2 (D4)
• AFC Wimbledon - Newport County

Post by Promotion and Relegation Supporters Association.

Episode 134 - 2015 HOF Discussion

In 2015, the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown corrected a major injustice.

Conversely, the Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton committed multiple injustices - just shortly after this recording.

First off, congratulations to the Cooperstown class of 2015 - pitchers Randy Johnson, Pedro Martinez, and John Smoltz, as well as catcher/second baseman/outfielder Craig Biggio, who is a member of the 3,000 hit club who didn't gamble or use PED's (and then lie to Congress about using them).  Biggio's induction corrects an injustice.

This discussion was recorded prior to the Pro Football Hall of Fame's announcement of the Class of 2015 - and it turned out to be a f@#$ing joke.  The actual Hall of Fame balloting will be the subject of an upcoming episode.

Oh, well.  We discuss.



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Episode 133 - NFL to LA - AGAIN!

It's the story that won't go away but keeps popping its ugly head into the sports conversation.

In a discussion that Mike tried to do solo, he and Tim talk about the ongoing, undying NFL to Los Angeles story.

Here are the current developments that we know of and talk about:

1. St. Louis Rams owner Stan Kroenke announcing his intention to build a new stadium in Inglewood despite not having approval from the NFL ownership to move the team back to LA.
2. Efforts in St. Louis to build a new riverfront stadium for the Rams, which will effectively keep the team from moving.
3. Oakland officials essentially pitting the Raiders and Athletics (who currently share the oft-criticized Oakland Coliseum) against each other for stadium bids.
4. Raiders owner Mark Davis entertaining offers from LA and San Antonio.
5. San Diego Chargers owner Dean Spanos announcing he would block any potential move to LA, especially a move by the Rams.
6. The Chargers' own, much more dire stadium situation, and San Diego's refusal to build a new stadium.
7. Why the Jacksonville Jaguars are a non-factor in these discussions (despite many peoples' assertion to the contrary).

Mike's simple solution: sell the Rams to St. Louis friendly ownership, and allow the Raiders to move back to LA.  Kroenke, already in violation of the NFL's cross-ownership prohibitions (due to his ownership of Denver's NBA and NHL teams), can still build his stadium and charge rent to the Raiders.  The Chargers' side of the equation Mike has no surefire answer for.



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Episode 132 - English Football Update and Football League Cup Final

Mike and Tim discuss what's going on in English football, from the leagues to the fifth round of the FA Cup.

We also discuss the 2014-15 Football League Cup Final (which has batsu game implications).

This is a matchup that makes Arsenal supporters (like Mike) cringe: Chelsea-Tottenham Hotspur.

Mike's pick: Tottenham after a 0-0 draw into extra time and winning on penalty kicks

Tim's pick: Tottenham

My apologies to whomever did the Manchester United/Boyzone parody at the close.  I have no clue who did the song, other than it's really damn funny.



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Episode 131 - Bowl Season Review and Potpourri

Mike and Tim discuss the just-completed college bowl season.

The judgment: no batsu game, even though Mike went 0-fer in the big bowl games.

We also discuss some other sports-related topics:

• Congratulations to Coach K on his 1,000 career win.
• RIP to Ernie Banks and to Stuart Scott

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Ryland does his batsu

This is what happens when you pick San Francisco to win the Super Bowl - and they don't even make the playoffs.

Pats win SB49

The final score in Super Bowl 49:

New England 28
Seattle 24

Congratulations to the New England Patriots on winning their fourth Super Bowl.

Now comes the part we've been waiting for:

Tim, solo BATSU GAME!!!

We will announce Tim's punishment during our next recording session.  In the meantime, please keep an eye out for our most recent recordings, starting tomorrow.