Episode 28 - Know Your Mid-Majors: Atlantic 10

Today's Know Your Mid-Majors is on the Atlantic 10 Conference (A-10).

This conference is the current home of recent Final Four participants George Mason and Virginia Commonwealth.

In the summer of 2014, Davidson College will be joining this conference.

Here are the schools of the A-10 for 2013-14:

• Dayton
• Duquesne (Mike can now confirm he does have relatives who attended this Pittsburgh school)
• Fordham (their Rams are the namesake of the NFL St. Louis Rams)
• George Mason
• George Washington (the most expensive school in the country, per Tony Kornheiser)
• La Salle
• Massachusetts
• Rhode Island
• Richmond
• St. Bonaventure
• St. Joseph's
• St. Louis (a Jesuit school; not to be confused with the public UM-St. Louis, which is a DII school)
• Virginia Commonwealth

Click here to download.

Props to American Soccer Future

If you missed our promotion and relegation discussion, no worries.  Another blog picked it up.

The blog American Soccer Future picked up the audio from our discussion for their audience with our permission and blessing.  You can check out their posting of the discussion at this link.

NFL Regular Season Finale

The NFL regular season is over.  So, how did Mike and Tim do with their picks, both original and adjusted?

Division	Mike's Picks		Tim's Picks		Actual
	Original	Adjusted	Original	Adjusted
NFC North	Green Bay	Green Bay	Green Bay	Green Bay	Green Bay
NFC South	Atlanta	New Orleans	Atlanta	New Orleans	Carolina
NFC East	NY Giants	Dallas	NY Giants	Washington	Philadelphia
NFC West	St. Louis	Seattle	Seattle	Seattle	Seattle
NFC Wild Cards	New Orleans Washington	Chicago Detroit	San Francisco Washington	Chicago San Francisco	New Orleans San Francisco
AFC North	Cincinnati	Cincinnati	Pittsburgh	Pittsburgh	Cincinnati
AFC South	Indianapolis	Indianapolis	Indianapolis	Indianapolis	Indianapolis
AFC East	New England	New England	New England	New England	New England
AFC West	Denver	Denver	Denver	Denver	Denver
AFC Wild Cards	Baltimore Pittsburgh	Kansas City no pick	Cincinnati Houston	Cincinnati Kansas City	Kansas City San Diego

Pick Set	Division Winners	Wild Cards	Over/Underestimations	Total Teams Correct
Mike's Original	5	1	0	6
Mike's Adjusted	6	1	1	8
Tim's Original	5	1	1	7
Tim's Adjusted	5	2	2	9

In case you're wondering about the Super Bowl:

Mike's original: Atlanta over New England - BATSU GAME DECIDED!!
Mike's revised: New Orleans over New England
Tim's original: Denver over NY Giants
Tim's revised: Denver over Seattle

Batsu games goes to:

• Mike for his original picks (6 correct vs. Tim's 7)
• Mike for his adjusted picks (8 correct vs. Tim's 9)

Pro leagues: Promotion & Relegation

Normally with this podcast (and corresponding blog), we don't publish others' materials unless we have a very good reason to do so. This is one of those times.

I just came across this video explaining the concept of promotion and relegation.  The video does a great job of explaining the concept to those who may not be familiar with the concept.

Also, since we recently devoted a podcast episode on the topic, it seemed appropriate to get an outside voice to comment on the issue.

Episode 27 - Know Your Mid-Majors: Missouri Valley

Today is Know Your Mid-Majors, and today's conference: the Missouri Valley Conference.

The Missouri Valley is the second-oldest conference in Division I (after the Big Ten) and spun off the former Big 8 Conference (now merged with a few Texas schools to form the Big 12).  It is also home to Wichita State, one of last year's Final Four participants.

The current members of this conference are:

• Bradley
• Drake
• Evansville
• Illinois State
• Indiana State
• Loyola Chicago
• Missouri State
• Northern Iowa
• Southern Illinois
• Wichita State

Click here to download.

Episode 26 - Las Vegas Sports Discussion

Should Las Vegas - the gambling capital of the United States, located in the middle of a desert - host a major pro sports team?  That the discussion Mike and Tim have in today's episode.

Click here to download.

Episode 25 - Where Are They Now? Part 2

Since the first installment of "Where Are They Now?" was a hit among us, we decided to do it again.

Today's athletes we're looking at are:

• Eddie Kennison
• Mike Piazza
• Mookie Blaylock
• Michael Johnson
• Jennifer Capriati

Here is video of Kennison's June 2012 appearance on KCPT's The Local Show:





Click here to download.

Episode 24 - 2013-14 Bowl Predictions

Mike and Tim look at the upcoming college bowl games and make their picks.

Since there is generally a lot of agreement between the two, we'll only list here the games Mike and Tim differ on:

Bowl	Mike's Pick	Tim's Pick
Las Vegas Bowl	USC	Fresno State
Hawaii Bowl	Boise State	Oregon State
Little Caesar's Bowl	Pittsburgh	Bowling Green
Texas Bowl	Syracuse	Minnesota
Fight Hunger Bowl	BYU	Washington
Advocare V100 Bowl	Arizona	Boston College
Chick-fil-A Bowl	Duke	Texas A&M
Heart of Dallas Bowl	North Texas	UNLV
Fiesta Bowl	Central Florida	Baylor
Cotton Bowl	Missouri	Oklahoma State
BCS Championship	Florida State	Auburn

Click here to download.

Episode 23 - Promotion and Relegation in North American Soccer

Mike and Jeff discuss the complex topic of promotion and relegation in North American soccer.  Why is North America (United States and Canada combined) the only place on the planet without promotion and relegation in their soccer pyramid?  What are the steps that need to be taken to make it happen?  Why does it need to happen?  It's an interesting discussion and the time to have it is now.

This episode begins with an audio clip from the 1976 film Network.  It is intended for illustrative purposes only.

Click here to download.

Episode 22 - UEFA Champions League Group Stage Review and Mike's Second Batsu Game

Mike goes solo and reviews his picks in the UEFA Champions League group stage.

Because of his picks, Mike gets a second batsu game.

Mike's batsu game is Five Words, which will be:

• bamboo
• banana
• gateau (a French word meaning "cake")
• heykel (a Turkish word meaning "statue")
• zhiraf (a Russian word meaning "giraffe)

The five words represent the five teams Mike was wrong about in the group stage: Chelsea, Galatasaray, Manchester United, Paris Saint-Germain and Zenit St. Petersburg.

If you are unfamiliar with the original concept of Four Words, please refer to the Smoke Break web series.

CYA moment: the chants used in this episode are property of the respective property owners and used for illustrative purposes only.



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Episode 21 - Know Your Mid-Majors: Summit League

Today's Know Your Mid-Majors is on the Summit League - the former conference home of UMKC and many other schools.

The 2013-14 schools in the Summit League are:

• Denver
• IPFW (Indiana-Purdue-Fort Wayne)
• IUPUI (Indiana-Purdue-Indianapolis)
• Nebraska-Omaha
• North Dakota State
• South Dakota
• South Dakota State
• Western Illinois

Just prior to this recording, we learned that Oral Roberts (currently in the Southland) will be returning to the Summit League in 2014.

Click here to download.

Episode 20 - Hockey History: Original Six(es)

Mike and Ray discuss hockey history with the NHL's Original Six and what Ray calls the "Original Expansion Six."

The Original Six are:

• Boston Bruins
• Chicago Blackhawks
• Detroit Red Wings
• Montreal Canadiens
• New York Rangers
• Toronto Maple Leafs

The "Original Expansion Six" - which doubled the size of the NHL in 1967 - are:

• California Seals (defunct; the San Jose Sharks are considered the spiritual successor)
• Los Angeles Kings
• Minnesota North Stars (now the Dallas Stars)
• Philadelphia Flyers
• Pittsburgh Penguins
• St. Louis Blues

Click here to download.

Episode 19 - Stadiums: How Old is Too Old?

Mike, Tim and Ray discuss how old is too old in terms of stadiums?  We have the recent decisions in Atlanta to replace Turner Field (built in 1996 for the Atlanta Olympics) and the Georgia Dome (opened in 1992) within the next decade to thank for this talk.  We also touch on situations like the Edward Jones Dome in St. Louis (opened in 1995) and Arrowhead and Kauffman Stadium in Kansas City (opened in 1972 and 1973, respectively).

Click here to download.

UEFA Champions League Review

How well did Mike do in picking the teams to advance past the group stage of the 2013-14 UEFA Champions League?  There are batsu game implications here.

We'll start with the top 2 finishers in each group.  These teams advance to the knockout stage.

Group	Mike's picks	Actual results	Number correct/Verdict
A	Shakhtar Donetsk Bayer Leverkusen	Manchester United Bayer Leverkusen	1/2 - SAFE!
B	Juventus Real Madrid	Real Madrid Galatasaray	1/2 - SAFE!
C	Benfica Olympiacos	Paris Saint-Germain Olympiacos	1/2 - SAFE!
D	Bayern Munich Manchester City	Bayern Munich Manchester City	2/2 - SAFE!
E	Schalke 04 Steaua Bucuresti	Chelsea Schalke 04	1/2 - SAFE!
F	Arsenal Borussia Dortmund	Borussia Dortmund Arsenal	2/2 - SAFE!
G	Porto Atletico Madrid	Atletico Madrid Zenit St. Petersburg	1/2 - SAFE!
H	Barcelona AC Milan	Barcelona AC Milan	2/2 - SAFE!

Correct picks (green): 11
Incorrect picks (red): 5

Next, let's look at the third-place finishers in each group.  These teams will be sent to the Europa League knockout stage.

Group	Mike's pick	Actual result	Verdict
A	Manchester United	Shakhtar Donetsk	WRONG!
B	Galatasaray	Juventus	WRONG!
C	Paris Saint-Germain	Benfica	WRONG!
D	CSKA Moscow	Viktoria Plzen	WRONG!
E	Basel	Basel	CORRECT
F	Marseille	Napoli	WRONG!
G	Zenit St. Petersburg	Porto	WRONG!
H	Ajax	Ajax	CORRECT

Correct picks: 2
Incorrect picks: 6

Here are the Batsu game implications:

• 11/16 make the knockout stage (need 8/16 to avoid) - SAFE!
• 2/8 correctly picking each of the 3rd place finishers (need 4/8 to avoid) - BATSU GAME!
• if BOTH of the top two in any group is picked completely wrong - SAFE!

For incorrectly picking more than half of the third-place finishers, Mike gets a batsu game.

Mike's final, by the way, is Barcelona over Schalke 04.  Keep an eye out for that.

Episode 18 - Where Are They Now?

Tim introduces a new segment called "Where Are They Now?"  In today's edition, Tim learns the whereabouts of five former athletes of note:

• Vinnie "The Microwave" Johnson
• Jim Marshall
• Sam Bowie
• Lenny Dykstra
• Tonya Harding

Click here to download.

Episode 17 - Mike, BATSU GAME!!!

Mike's batsu game for picking the Atlanta Falcons to win the Super Bowl is decided:

Mike is to wear a Pittsburg State (Tim's alma mater) shirt and sing the school's alma mater.

Stay tuned...



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First Batsu Game of the Podcast Decided

Mike, BATSU GAME!!!

The first batsu game of the podcast has been decided thanks to the Atlanta Falcons' being eliminated from playoff contention. You may recall at the beginning of the season Mike picked Atlanta to win the Super Bowl.

Mike's first batsu game will be decided...

Episode 16 - Know Your Mid-Majors: Southland

Today we present the second installment of Know Your Mid-Majors.

Today's conference: the Southland Conference.

The Southland is home to the following schools:

• Abilene Christian
• Central Arkansas
• Houston Baptist
• Incarnate Word
• Lamar (alma mater to both of Mike's parents)
• McNeese State (in Louisiana, not in Texas)
• New Orleans
• Nicholls State (in Louisiana, not in Texas)
• Northwestern State
• Oral Roberts (considered by many UMKC fans and alumni, Mike included, as their archrival; returning to the Summit League in 2014)
• Sam Houston State
• Southeastern Louisiana
• Stephen F. Austin
• Texas A&M-Corpus Christi

Click here to download.

Episode 15 - Know Your Mid-Majors: WAC

Today's the first installment of Know Your Mid-Majors.

First on our KYMM docket: the Western Athletic Conference (WAC).

In 2013-14, the WAC is home to the following schools:

• Cal State Bakersfield
• Chicago State
• Grand Canyon University (the first for-profit school in DI)
• Idaho (heading to the Big Sky Conference in July 2014)
• Missouri-Kansas City (Mike's alma mater)
• New Mexico State
• Seattle
• Texas-Pan American
• Utah Valley

Click here to download.

Episode 14 - Blackistone Discussion

Today, Mike and Tim discuss certain comments made by Around the Horn panelist Kevin Blackistone regarding Northwestern's blood-stained Veterans' Day tribute and whether it's appropriate to play the Star Spangled Banner before sporting events.

We actually begin today's show with Blackistone's comments.  Credit for the clip goes to ESPN.  We make no money from this podcast and include the segment for illustrative purposes only.

Click here to download.

Episode 13 - Bullying in Football

In today's podcast, Mike and Tim talk about the recent reports of bullying in the Miami Dolphins locker room involving second-year tackle Jonathan Martin and veteran guard (and known dirty player) Richie Incognito.

Click here to download.

Episode 12 - Know Your Mid-Majors Intro

On this episode of the podcast, we're introducing a sub-series called "Know Your Mid-Majors."

Mid-majors are the NCAA Division I conferences and schools outside of the big-time B(C)S conferences - ACC, Big Ten, Big 12, Pac-12 and SEC.  These are the smaller schools you likely have never heard of, some of whom have made impressive tournament runs in recent years - George Mason, Virginia Commonwealth, Butler, Wichita State, and so on.

There are 340 Division I schools in 32 conferences (this includes the aforementioned B(C)S conferences).  Many of these schools - which includes Mike's alma mater, the University of Missouri-Kansas City (UMKC) - are schools most casual sports fans have never heard of or knew were DI.  That's where KYMM comes in.

The conferences we will be highlighting in this series include:

• America East Conference
• American Athletic Conference (the renamed former Big East)
• Atlantic Sun Conference
• Atlantic-10 Conference (A-10)
• Big East Conference (the non-football schools of the former Big East that broke away and took the name with them)
• Big Sky Conference
• Big South Conference
• Big West Conference
• Colonial Athletic Association
• Conference USA
• Horizon League
• Ivy League
• Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC)
• Mid-American Conference (MAC)
• Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC)
• Missouri Valley Conference
• Mountain West Conference
• Northeast Conference (NEC)
• Ohio Valley Conference
• Patriot League
• Southern Conference
• Southland Conference
• Southwestern Athletic Conference (SWAC)
• Summit League
• Sun Belt Conference
• West Coast Conference
• Western Athletic Conference (WAC)

Click here to download.

Episode 11 - Orlando City Rant

"You have meddled with the primal forces of nature!  And you!  Will!  Atone!"
- Network (1976)

On this podcast, Mike has to rant against MLS' decision to admit Orlando City - a third division soccer team - into the first division, breaking many of FIFA's bylaws in the process, specifically (1) breaking FIFA's top-flight limit of 20 teams at any one time (this move would make 21); (2) allowing a third division team to jump into the first division while completely bypassing the second division; and (3) undermining the cry from North American soccer fans to implement - or at the very least start talking about implementing - a system of promotion and relegation.

Orlando City, congratulations, you've pissed one of us off.

There will be a discussion on promotion and relegation in North American soccer in an upcoming edition of this podcast.


Click here to download.

Episode 10 - NFL Midseason

Today, Mike and Tim review the NFL season as it approaches the midseason.

We also review our picks from before the season started and make midseason revisions:

	Mike's Picks	Tim's Picks	Actual (as of 10/30/13)	Mike's Adjusted Picks	Tim's Adjusted Picks
NFC North	Green Bay	Green Bay	Green Bay	Green Bay	Green Bay
NFC South	Atlanta	Atlanta	New Orleans	New Orleans	New Orleans
NFC East	NY Giants	NY Giants	Dallas	Dallas	Washington
NFC West	St. Louis	Seattle	Seattle	Seattle (begrudgingly)	Seattle
NFC Wild Cards	New Orleans Washington	San Francisco Washington	Detroit San Francisco	Chicago Detroit	Chicago San Francisco
AFC North	Cincinnati	Pittsburgh	Cincinnati	Cincinnati	Pittsburgh
AFC South	Indianapolis	Indianapolis	Indianapolis	Indianapolis	Indianapolis
AFC East	New England	New England	New England	New England	New England
AFC West	Denver	Denver	Kansas City	Denver	Denver
AFC Wild Cards	Baltimore Pittsburgh	Cincinnati Houston	Denver San Diego	Kansas City TBA	Cincinnati Kansas City
NFC Champions	Atlanta	NY Giants	TBA	New Orleans	Seattle
AFC Champions	New England	Denver	TBA	New England	Denver
Super Bowl Champions	Atlanta	Denver	TBA	New Orleans	Denver

In terms of end-of-the-season batsu game implications:

Mike: 4/8 on division leaders; 0/4 on wild cards (1 underestimation in New Orleans)
Tim: 4/8 on division leaders; 1/4 on wild cards (1 underestimation in Cincinnati)

Mike would take the batsu game.



Click here to download.

Episode 9 - NBA 2013-14 Preview

On today's edition of the podcast, Mike and Tim preview the NBA season and make their picks.

Division	Mike's Picks	Tim's Picks
Atlantic	Brooklyn	Brooklyn
Central	Indiana	Chicago
Southeast	Miami	Miami
Southwest	Memphis	San Antonio
Northwest	Oklahoma City	Oklahoma City
Pacific	LA Clippers	LA Clippers
Eastern Conf.	Miami	Indiana
Western Conf.	Memphis	Oklahoma City
NBA Champs	Miami	Oklahoma City

Click here to download.

Episode 8 - Fair Ball

Mike and Tim discuss the comparisons between MLB reality and the plan for MLB put out by Bob Costas in his 2000 book "Fair Ball: A Fan's Case for Baseball."

Click here to download.

Episode 7 - NFL Craziness (Off the Field)

Mike and Tim discuss a few of the off-the-field issues involving the NFL, specifically if they really need a team in Los Angeles and/or London and the notion of an 18-game schedule.

Click here to download.

Episode 6 - MLB Playoff Picture

Mike and Tim talk MLB playoff picture with a week to go in the regular season, 2 teams (Boston and LA Dodgers) clinching playoff spots, 4 divisions to go and the four wild cards.

Click here to download.

Episode 5 - 2013-14 UEFA Champions League Group Stage Preview

Mike's going solo on this episode, where he previews and gives his picks for this year's group stage of the UEFA Champions League.

Mike's picks are as follows:

Group	1st Place Advance to Knockout Stage	2nd Place Advance to Knockout Stage	3rd Place Europa League Knockout Stage	4th Place they're done
A	Shakhtar Donetsk (Ukraine)	Bayer Leverkusen (Germany)	Manchester United (England)	Real Sociedad (Spain)
B	Juventus (Italy)	Real Madrid (Spain)	Galatasaray (Turkey)	Copenhagen (Denmark)
C	Benfica (Portugal)	Olympiacos (Greece)	Paris Saint-Germain (France)	Anderlecht (Belgium)
D	Bayern Munich (Germany)	Manchester City (England)	CSKA Moscow (Russia)	Viktoria Plzen (Czech Republic)
E	Schalke 04 (Germany)	Steaua Bucuresti (Romania)	Basel (Switzerland)	Chelsea (England)
F	Arsenal (England)	Borussia Dortmund (Germany)	Olympique de Marseille (France)	Napoli (Italy)
G	Porto (Portugal)	Atletico Madrid (Spain)	Zenit St. Petersburg (Russia)	Austria Vienna (Austria)
H	Barcelona (Spain)	AC Milan (Italy)	Ajax (Netherlands)	Celtic (Scotland)

Mike's projected winner: Barcelona over Schalke Click here to download.

Episode 4 - English Football Primer

Mike and co-host Jeff Stalnaker give an introduction to English football (what we call soccer in the States), the sport's history, the clubs to be familiar with and much more.




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Episode 3 - NFL Concussion Settlement

Mike and Tim talk about the recent settlement the NFL made with retired NFL players in a lawsuit over concussions and their long-term effects on players' post-playing health.

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Episode 2 - Native American Nicknames

Mike and Tim discuss the ongoing controversy of Native American nicknames in college and pro sports.

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Episode 1 - NFL 2013 Preview

Welcome to the Winning Side Coaches podcast!

In this first episode, co-hosts Mike Czerniewski and Tim Crippen discuss the upcoming NFL season and make their picks for division winners and the Super Bowl.

Here are the picks that Mike and Tim made:

	Mike's Picks	Tim's Picks
NFC North	Green Bay	Green Bay
NFC South	Atlanta	Atlanta
NFC East	NY Giants	NY Giants
NFC West	St. Louis	Seattle
NFC Wild Cards	New Orleans Washington	San Francisco Washington
AFC North	Cincinnati	Pittsburgh
AFC South	Indianapolis	Indianapolis
AFC East	New England	New England
AFC West	Denver	Denver
AFC Wild Cards	Baltimore Pittsburgh	Cincinnati Houston
NFC Champions	Atlanta	NY Giants
AFC Champions	New England	Denver
Super Bowl Champions	Atlanta	Denver

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