Bouncing Around

On this first day of December I choose to bounce around a bit:

Clearly those that run college sports need lessons in geography and in simple math.

The Big Ten conference has 11 teams and next year will add another to make 12.
The Big 12 conference has 12 teams but will lose two next year and have 10. Wouldn’t it make sense for the two conferences to switch names?
The Pac 12 conference will expand to 14 next year but not change its name.

Louisiana Tech is in the Western Athletic Conference. Saint Louis is in the Atlantic Ten Conference, the University of Denver is in the Sun Belt Conference and just this week the Big East Conference announced it will add TCU as in Texas Christian University. That should make travel agents used by the schools very happy. Plus it will result in some great rivalries….nothing like a Syracuse-TCU soccer game.

I’m not sure exactly how it came to me but the other day I received an email with an attachment. The attachment was a copy of the contract offered to E.J. McGroarty to play for the Green Bay Packers during the 1944 season, along with a personal welcome letter from Packers coach Curly Lambeau. McGroarty would have his transportation paid to Green Bay, receive $35 a week during training camp and would get $150 per game. Well it appears he signed the contract but I guess he did not make the team because there’s no record of him playing for the Packers. Think of all that money he missed out on.

I have always thought that of all the sports awards given out annually the most prestigious in some ways is Sports Illustrated’s “Sportsman of the Year” because it’s more than just performance based. This year’s recipient is Saints quarterback Drew Brees, who led New Orleans to an improbable Super Bowl victory. He is also a terrific person whose foundation has worked hard to help rebuild the city after Hurricane Katrina. A great choice!