Episode 61 - Know Your Mid-Majors: Big East

To be clear, this is not the Big East of old (or, as Mike liked to call it, the Big Clusterf@#$ due to its almost 50-50 mix of football schools and non-football schools).

Over the summer of 2013, after being poached almost to death by the ACC, the non-football schools of the old Big East (aka the "Catholic 7") spun off - and took the name with them!  The remaining football schools renamed the old conference the American Athletic.

The new Big East consists entirely of private, mostly Catholic schools in the Northeast and Midwest - and none of them play football:

• Butler (a recent two-time Final Four team and tournament runner-up)
• Creighton (or, in Phil's Mom speak, "Cretin")
• DePaul
• Georgetown
• Marquette (or, in Phil's Mom speak, "Markwet")
• Providence
• St. John's
• Seton Hall
• Villanova
• Xavier

 


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Episode 60 - Know Your Mid-Majors: Ivy League

When you hear the term "Ivy League," what's the first thing that comes to mind?

The Ivy League consists of the oldest, most prestigious institutions of higher learning in the United States.  This is a conference that doesn't hand out athletic scholarships (1 of 2 in Division I), doesn't have a conference tourney to determine their automatic bid (it goes instead to the regular season champs - the only Division I conference to do so), and costs a lot to attend school here.

The schools of the Ivy League are:

• Brown
• Columbia
• Cornell
• Dartmouth
• Harvard
• Penn
• Princeton
• Yale

 


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Episode 59 - College Athlete Unions

Today's episode centers around the decision by Northwestern University football players to unionize.  What impact will this have on the way college athletes are treated?  Will colleges start having to pay athletes?  Those questions and many more are explored here.

One answer came the week this episode is being published: the NCAA recently announced that DI athletes will be able to receive meals for free.  This was done in response to a complaint by a UConn basketball player who mentioned that student athletes sometimes don't eat well (if at all).



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Episode 58 - FA Cup and Stanley Cup Predictions

"You'll Never Walk Alone" - that's the way we're starting today's episode in honor of the 96 Liverpool fans who needlessly died in the Hillsborough disaster 25 years ago.

In addition to reviewing the English football season - which, as of this post, sees Liverpool on top of the Premier League - Mike makes his FA Cup Final and Stanley Cup predictions.

FA Cup: Arsenal 3-1 Hull City

Stanley Cup Finals: LA Kings over Pittsburgh Penguins in 7.

As always, both of these predictions are subject to batsu game.

Why do two sports in one podcast?  Timing - Stanley Cup Playoffs start this week.



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Episode 57 - Bad Owners

To paraphrase Eric Cartman: "No owner!  That's a bad owner!"

Mike and Tim take a few minutes to call out and complain about a few bad sports owners.



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2013-14 NBA Predictions Revisited

The NBA season is coming to a close.  So, how did Mike and Tim do on their picks?

Division	Mike's Picks	Tim's Picks	Actual
Atlantic	Brooklyn	Brooklyn	Toronto
Central	Indiana	Chicago	Indiana
Southeast	Miami	Miami	Miami
Southwest	Memphis	San Antonio	San Antonio
Northwest	Oklahoma City	Oklahoma City	Oklahoma City
Pacific	LA Clippers	LA Clippers	LA Clippers

Mike's picks: 4/6
Tim's picks: 4/6

Result: Tie - both are safe.

A reminder on the NBA Finals: Mike has Miami over Memphis, while Tim has Oklahoma City over Indiana.

Barcelona Out! Mike, Batsu Game!!

The Final Four of the 2013-14 UEFA Champions League have been decided:

Atletico Madrid, Bayern Munich, Chelsea, and Real Madrid.

Noticeably absent from this list: Barcelona and Schalke.

Mike's pick to win the UEFA Champions League was indeed Barcelona over Schalke.  Schalke was knocked out in the round of 16 by Real Madrid, and Barca was just eliminated by a fellow Spanish team, Atletico Madrid.

Mike, BATSU GAME!!!

Episode 56 - Mike's Tourney Bracket Batsu Game

Mike, BATSU GAME!

As discussed previously, Mike picked a worse bracket in the 2014 NCAA men's basketball tournament than did Tim.

And because Sunflower Brew's resident beer guru was also involved, Mike's batsu game was to be beer-related.

It is decided that Mike will do the Ned Yost drinking game: during an upcoming post-game press conference, for every instance of a certain set of cliches uttered by the Royals' manager, Mike has to take a drink.

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Episode 55 - Mike to USL: Just Die Already!

Mike has another soccer rant, and it's aimed squarely at the United Soccer Leagues, which controls the (joke of a) third division USL Pro, the fourth division PDL, and the indoor MISL.

With its long history of league instability, team turnover, and general ineptitude, the USL organization has been holding back lower-division soccer for a long time.  The recent bankruptcy of a USL team and the mass exodus of MISL teams (including the hometown Missouri Comets) to another league add fuel to the fire.

Mike's solution: USL should just die already.

UPDATE: There is a correction: NASL attendance in 2013 averaged in the 4,000 to 5,000 range, not the 7,000-8,000 range stated in this podcast.  My apologies.

UPDATE 2: Our friend High Rant District from Portland went into further detail regarding USL ineptitude in this article.  A must read.



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Episode 54 - Know Your Mid-Majors: Colonial

Today's Know Your Mid-Majors focuses on the Colonial Athletic Association.  This conference was home to both George Mason and Virginia Commonwealth (both now in the A-10) during their famous Final Four runs.

One chance for this conference: Elon (currently in the SoCon) joins the conference in summer 2014.

The 2013-14 schools of this conference are:

• College of Charleston
• Delaware
• Drexel
• Hofstra
• James Madison
• Northeastern
• Towson
• UNC Wilmington
• William & Mary (1 of 9 Colonial Colleges still in existence; 1 of 7 law schools to graduate both a President and Supreme Court Justice)

 


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