The bright orange of Syracuse and head coach Jim Boeheim joined Pitt in bolting the Big East for the ACC. By Briles Takes Pictures (Flickr: Scoop and Jim), via Wikimedia Commons

Are you a College Football fan who is excited for the new conference alignment?  Good, I hope you’re satisfied, because this process of realignment virtually destroyed the greatest sports conference that College sports has ever seen.  The creation of the Big East as a basketball conference is one of the most significant events to take place in the history of college sports. Current Big East schools have been to 16 Final Fours. The dissolution of the original Big East that has taken place over the last eight years should be considered one of the most significant travesties American sports have ever seen, and it was all because of the desire to make the most money off athletes who are, first and foremost, considered students.

Student athletes, that’s a dynamic term, isn’t it?  Can anyone actually explain to me how we should accurately classify a student athlete, because it seems as if the individuals in charge of college athletics have forgotten about the student portion of this dynamic term.  When describing why they are leaving the conference, monetary gains are a driving force. So you’re telling me that a school is willing travel farther, subsequently taking a chance on the academic success of their students’ grades, just so that they can make more money?  That sounds absolutely disgusting if you ask me.  I’m one of the biggest College Football fans you will ever meet—I bleed orange for my Beavers—but I start having problems when school officials start sacrificing a student’s grade just so their schedule looks appealing to the voters who decide the weekly rankings.

The Big East’s basketball pedigree rivals the football dominance of the SEC. The Big East had a 16-team basketball super-conference years before the SEC moved to 14 schools.

Since 1979, the Big East has produced six National Champions and 15 of the 16 teams—South Florida being the lone exception—have made it the Final Four — the most of any conference. In 1985, six years after its creation, the Big East sent three schools to the Final Four—Villanova, Georgetown and St. John’s—with ‘Nova beating Georgetown 66-64, in a game that many consider the greatest College Basketball game ever played.  Villanova, as an eight-seed, became the lowest seeded team to ever win the NCAA Division I Basketball Tournament, a record the stands to this day.  Of course, Wichita State will have a chance at breaking this record when they take on top seeded Louisville—of the Big East—in this year’s Final Four on Saturday.

Fast forward over two decades to 2009 and you can find the historic game between Syracuse and Connecticut in the Big East Tournament which lasted six overtimes.  Syracuse beat Connecticut 127-117 in a game that started at 9:30 PM ET and ended well beyond 1 AM in the morning; Syracuse did not lead in any of the previous overtime periods.  102 of the 244 points came in the overtime periods, in a game that is the longest game in the shot clock era.

//www.youtube.com/watch?v=3koPRFXzi3o

Unfortunately, the opportunity for fans to watch games of similar pedigree involving the iconic Big East has ceased to exist.  Nevertheless, the Big East name will continue to exist through a new conference created by the “Catholic 7” universities—DePaul, Georgetown, Marquette, Providence, St. John’s, Seton Hall, and Villanova—along with the recently added powerhouses of Butler, Creighton, and Xavier.  Even without schools like Syracuse, Louisville, and Connecticut, the “new” Big East still has potential to bring excitement that may one day match the historic competition that the Big East provided for over the past 30 years.

Camelback Ranch is one of the best places to watch your favorite prepare for the season ahead. By Ray Ambler (www.raphotos.com)

In this day and age, three and a half weeks into spring training means most baseball fans have the same thoughts circulating throughout their head: “How am I going to set up my fantasy team this year?;” “I hope my team hasn’t suffered a devastating injury;” or my personal favorite, “Last year may have been bad, but thank god I’m not a Cubs fan; at least my team still has hope of winning.” Don’t worry Los Angeles baseball fans, because over the last two years the Dodgers and Angels have combined to spend over $600 million on player contracts, while also agreeing to nearly$10 billion dollars in television deals, proving their respective desire to win immediately. Haven’t had any time to keep up with the Dodgers and Angels this spring? Worry not, for I am here to provide you with a reminder of what has gone on since the start of spring training:

Dodgers:

• The Dodgers still have eight starting pitchers, which is not a bad thing. Last year they used nine starting pitchers, and no team has gone through 162 games using the same five starting pitchers since the 2003 Mariners with Freddy Garcia, Jamie Moyer, Ryan Franklin, Gil Meche and Joel Pineiro. Management should make every attempt to keep as many as possible. Injuries are bound to occur throughout the season and the saying goes, “You can never have enough starting pitching.”
• Clayton Kershaw, who is coming off back-to-back seasons in which he finished in the top two for Cy Young voting, has thrown 13 innings, giving up 19 hits and eight earned runs during spring training. While these stats seem alarming, last I checked it was still spring training. You have nothing to worry about Dodger fans.
• On March 1, Carl Crawford was shut down from any fielding or hitting for at least a week for what he described as tightness and soreness in his arm, rather than pain. Unfortunately, this is a result from his Tommy John surgery last August, causing some people around baseball to wonder whether or not he will be ready for spring training. As of March 7, Crawford has been cleared to start hitting and throwing, but he won’t return to a Cactus League game for at least another week, and a return by Opening Day is still up in the air.
• Big League Chew announced Matt Kemp will be featured on the package of their iconic bubble gum brand. This will make Kemp the first active professional athlete to be featured on the package of gum that’s become synonymous with the baseball youth; part of the sales will go to Kemps charity, Kemp’s Kids.
• Zach Grienke was sent back to Los Angeles with a sore arm to talk to the Dodgers’ team doctor. Uh oh.

There are also eight players in the Dodgers organization participating on six different teams in the World Baseball Classic:

–   Mexico: Luis Cruz, Adrian Gonzalez

–   Puerto Rico: Andres Santiago (minors), Mario Santiago (minors)

–   Brazil: Felipe Burin (minors)

–   Dominican Republic: Hanley Ramirez

–   Italy: Nick Punto

–   Venezuela: Ronald Belisario

For constant updates on the Dodgers throughout the day, I recommend following Bill Plunkett on twitter @billplunKettocr. He is the Dodger’s beat writer for the Orange County Register and provides phenomenal information on a daily basis.

Angels:

• The latest high-profile acquisition for the Angels, Josh Hamilton, made his spring training debut on March 2. He went 0-for-3 against the Arizona Diamondbacks, but has since gone 5-for-7 with one home run and two RBIs. Of course, fans and critics need to keep in mind that his performance during spring training—whether it’s good or bad—will not reflect how a he performs during the regular season, especially with how unorthodox of a personality he has proven to have.
• For some reason a big deal was made when the Angels announced they had renewed Mike Trout’s contract to a four percent increase from the league minimum, meaning Trout will make $510,000 instead of $490,000.  I certainly believe Trout deserves a much larger raise solely based on the only season in his major league career; however, the kid is only 21 years old and even he doesn’t seem to mind, clearly understanding he will have a very long career filled with plenty of paychecks.
• The best hitter the post-steroid era has seen to date, Albert Pujols, had surgery in October on his right knee and made his spring debut on March 5going 0-for-3. He hasn’t played since, but he assured Angel fans that he would be more than prepared for the regular season, regardless how many at-bats he gets in spring training.
• Four individuals—Ernesto Frieri, Kevin Jepsen, Scott Downs and Sean Burnett—have emerged as potential candidates to take over the closer role, as Ryan Madson will likely start the season on the disabled list. It appears Frieri will get the opportunity to start the season, with playing time probably dictated by performance.

There are also three players in the Angels organization playing on three different teams in the World Baseball Classic:

–   Dominican Republic: Erick Aybar

–   Mexico: Efren Navarro

–   Puerto Rico: Fernando Cabrera

As I mentioned before with Bill Plunkett, if you would like to receive updates on the Angels throughout the day, I recommend following Bill’s counterpart at the OC Register, Jeff Fletcher on twitter @JeffFletcherOCR.

For the past fifteen years of my life — nearly as long as I can remember — the only constant in my life other than my family has been the enjoyment from sports. In fact, most of the friends I have maintained over this time period are individuals who don’t have a problem watching Sportscenter on repeat, to the point where you memorize what Neil Everrett and Stan Verrett will say on an upcoming segment. The competitive nature of sports makes them some of the most unpredictable events in the world; there isn’t a better feeling than hearing the phrase “game 7” or waking up on the morning of a rivalry game. With that being said, when there is love, there is hate; these are the five things in sports that grind my gears the most:

5.  The NCAA’s recent actions

College sports would not be where they are in today’s society without the NCAA; however, over the last few years the NCAA has made a number of questionable decisions regarding the punishments they have given to the universities under their control. I’m not questioning whether or not these universities deserve the punishment, but rather the inconsistency regarding the terms of these punishments that are causing fans to question the integrity of the NCAA.

The sanctions against the University of Southern California handed down in 2010 were over the actions of one player from an entirely different generation of USC football. Nevertheless, these sanctions kept the Trojans out of a National Championship Game they deserved to be in and prevented Matt Barkley from winning the Heisman, both during the 2011 season. There’s no reason to punish players who had nothing to do with the actions in question Instead, the NCAA should have put restrictions on the players who committed the rule violation. The head of the NCAA’s Committee of Infractions at the time of the USC ruling, Paul Dee, was the Athletic director at the University of Miami , which committed a number of violations during his tenure (1993-2008), including the most recent Nevin Shapiro scandal. How can the NCAA appoint an individual to the head of their violations committee if he can’t even control his own school? Because the NCAA has proven they aren’t even competent enough to control their employees. Last month, the NCAA admitted to improper conduct by its own enforcement staff and their involvement regarding the Nevin Shapiro scandal, adding to the long list of problems with the enforcement staff.

The NCAA is an association that answers to no one; either that needs to change, or their policies need to, I’d personally be happy to see both change.

Baseball’s Hall of Fame needs to make some adjustments. By Beyond My Ken (Own work), via Wikimedia Commons

4. Major League Baseball’s Hall of Fame voting

2013 marked the first time since 1996 the Baseball Writers’ Association of America voted zero members to the Baseball Hall of Fame; subsequently, this has become one of the most fiercely discussed topics of the New Year.  After the results of this year’s voting, most of the reactions were the same; a new policy clearly needs to be adopted, specifically the 15 year limit on candidacy. There is no reason for a player who deserves membership right away, to be forced to wait 14 years before the BBWA feels the urgency to vote them in during their 15^th year, which hopefully turns out to be the case with Jack Morris. Baseball has gone through major changes over the last 20 years—the addition of the designated hitter, the wild card playoff spot and game, and the addition of multiple teams—there is absolutely no reason for the Baseball Writers to refuse changes to their voting policy and criteria.

If the Hall of Fame is a place that claims to house the history of the best players and moments the game has ever seen, then something must be done in regards to the voting problems surfacing with the steroid era players. There is absolutely no reason to keep an entire generation of players out of the eternal sanctuary for baseball lore. Other than the original ballot in 1936—with names such as Ty Cobb, Babe Ruth, Cy Young, and Honus Wagner—there has never been another group of players of similar importance on the same ballot. This is an era in Major League Baseball that will never be forgotten. We shouldn’t act like it didn’t exist.

3. Conference Realignment

The landscape of college sports has seen dramatic changes over the last decade because of the constant movement between conferences by schools who are influenced by the goal of landing the largest television contract possible. I have never thought of myself as a traditionalist and I’m generally open to change, just not in this case. Conference realignment has occurred for all of the wrong reasons, and it has destroyed a handful of rivalries that have been around for over 100 years. The Missouri vs. Kansas and Texas vs. Texas A&M rivalries combined for over 225 years of competition, but abruptly ended when Missouri and Texas A&M decided to bolt for the Southeastern Conference in 2012.

Then there’s my personal favorite conference, the Pac-12, which expanded from the Pac-10 with the additions of Utah and Colorado in 2011; teams were ultimately split into two divisions as a result. Subsequently, my Oregon State Beavers have been forced to leave USC off the schedule for the past two seasons. After growing up in Southern California, there has been nothing more fun than talking smack to my friends about how the Beavers put a smack down on the Trojans or Bruins.

However, the effects of these changes don’t stop with football. The Big East conference, historically dominant in basketball, has been the primary victim of these changes with the loss of schools such as Georgetown, Connecticut, Syracuse and Villanova, just to name a few. This is a conference that sent a record 11 schools to the NCAA tournament in 2011, had a six-overtime game in the conference tournament in 2009, and most recently had a four overtime game a few weeks ago; the loss of this conference’s original core is one of the biggest travesties the sports modern era. Nevertheless, it is nice to see the Basketball dominant Catholic schools from the Big East take a stand for themselves in declaring their independence before the conference they helped create is torn apart from the outside because of football’s monetary interests.

2. The Media

Three things I would love to never hear discussed on television again: Brett Favre coming back to football; ‘Tebowmania;’ the next person in line to sue Lance Armstrong. I’m sure most people who tune into ESPN or any other sports media network on a daily basis would agree with me when I say enough with the repeated material.  Please do not flood my television with useless stories that lead to the same conversations every day. Focus on stories that are worth mentioning—this does not include Tim Tebow running through the rain with his shirt off.

I could really care less about the personal situations or problems that various athletes manage to get themselves into; does a sports fan really care how many times Pac-Man Jones manages to land in prison? If we want these individuals to act as role models for the youth, then the media needs to highlight the dozens of things athletes do every day to help people in need, rather than the things they do wrong. I see more ‘top stories’ about Gronkowski getting drunk than I do about the 350+ established charitable foundations started by sports figures.  ESPN’s “Make A Wish” series is a perfect example of athletes doing charitable work; albeit, the episodes may be a bit scripted and romanticized, but they are still working with professional athletes in all sports to make a difference in an individual’s life. With Social Media playing a huge role in today’s society, popular sports media needs to understand how much they influence the younger generations.

1. The University of Oregon

The University of Oregon’s sudden rise as one of the elite programs in College Football would not have been possible if their athletic program was not funded and utilized by Nike’s popular culture marketing campaign. Through the hundred million dollar donations of Uncle Knight, the Oregon Ducks football team started their ‘build and they will come’ recruitment strategy last decade and haven’t looked back since. Through this strategy, building and promoting revolutionary facilities is at the center of Oregon’s sales pitch to recruits; this has led to four straight BCS bowl game appearances. Some of the more recent ‘donations’ include an atrocious basketball court and a football training facility that will cost an estimated $60 million-plus. The Oregon athletic department is one of a handful of athletic departments in the country that is self-sufficient in operating without university help, I wonder why?

It’s easy to say I am merely jealous of the support the Ducks receive from Nike, but that could not be farther from the truth—in fact the school I support receives a substantial amount from this corporate behemoth as well. What grinds my gears is the pompous attitude from the bandwagoning fans who think the Ducks belong on the Mount Rushmore of College Football. Most of the recently-turned Duck fans have never even attended the University of Oregon or gone to a game there, but popular culture has told them to become infatuated with the ‘swag’ that pulses from their obnoxious jerseys every week. It has been a lot of fun watching their Heisman hopefuls and National title intentions crash and burn the last few years through memorable loses.

I guess it would be worth mentioning my status as a fourth-year student at Oregon State University is likely the source for every ounce of self-centered hatred inside of me that gets directed towards those hippies down south. But at the end of the day, being at the epicenter of one of the longest standing rivalries in college sports has been the single greatest experience of my life.

Go Beavers.

Now that the poor excuse for America’s favorite sport has finished its season with a blackout rather than a bang, it’s time for Major League Baseball teams to report for Spring Training in preparation for what could be one of the greatest seasons in the sport’s history.  For the second time in three years the World Series champion came out of the National League West. The only problem with this is that it was the San Francisco Giants, both times.  2013 is a new season, and as the rest of the teams in the NL West demonstrated this past offseason, it is going to be very difficult for the Giants to repeat as division winners or World Series champions.  Here’s everything you need know about the National League West as Spring Training gets underway.

Arizona Diamondbacks

2012 Roundup:

Record: 81-81 (38-34 vs. NL West); finished 3^rd, 13 games behind the Giants.

Team BA: .259

Team ERA: 3.93

The 2012 Diamondbacks started the regular season on a very positive note with a three game sweep of the eventual champion Giants, but after a 5-1 start they found themselves with a 23-28 record at the end of May.  They were never able to find their stride, hovering around the .500 mark throughout the rest of the season. Nevertheless, these Diamondbacks showed the rest of the division that they will be competitive in 2013.

Key Offseason Moves:

• Traded Justin Upton and Chris Johnson to the Braves for Martin Prado, Randall Delgado and three minor leaguers; they subsequently signed Prado to a four year contract.
• In a three team trade with the Oakland Athletics and Miami Marlins, the Diamondbacks traded Chris Young and cash to Oakland for Cliff Pennington and minor leaguer Yordy Cabrera, then turned around and sent Cabrera to Miami for Heath Bell.
• In a three team, nine player trade with the Cleveland Indians and Cincinnati Reds, the Diamondbacks sent Trevor Bauer, Matt Albers, and Bryan Shaw to the Indians in exchange for Tony Sipp and Lars Anderson, and Didi Gregorius from Cincinnati.  Anderson was later cut.
• Signed J.J. Putz to a two year extension after picking up his option.
• Traded Ryan Wheeler to the Rockies for Matt Reynolds.
• Signed free agent Brandon McCarthy to a two year contract.
• Signed free agent Cody Ross to a three year contract.
• Signed free agent Eric Chavez to a one year contract.
• Signed free agent Eric Hinske to a one year contract.
• Signed free agent Rod Barajas to a minor league contract.

After showing a lot of promise in 2012, the Diamondbacks are looking to capitalize on a strong offseason by putting together a 2013 regular season worthy of winning the NL West.  This roster has a lot of versatility with guys who can play everywhere, and a pitching staff that has the ability to surprise a lot of people.  However, it could be harder than ever to win the division this season with the deep pockets in Los Angeles hell-bent on winning it all right away.

Colorado Rockies

2012 Roundup:

Record: 64-98 (28-44 vs. NL West); finished 5^th, 30 games behind the Giants.

Team BA: .274

Team ERA: 5.22

The Rockies began the 2012 season with a fairly decent April, finishing with a respectable 11-11 record. With the benefit of hindsight, they probably would have preferred if the season ended then.  May, June, and July brought a combined record of 26-53 with the team reaching double digit wins in only one of the three months.  Injuries took their toll throughout the entire season as the Rockies stumbled to a last place finish for the first time since 2005.

Key Offseason Moves:

• Signed Dexter Fowler to a two year contract.
• Traded Matt Reynolds to Arizona for Ryan Wheeler.
• Signed Jeff Francis to a one year contract.
• Signed Chris Volstad, Manny Corpas and Yorvit Torrealba to minor league contracts.
• Named Walt Weiss manager.

A quick look at the projected lineup for the 2013 Colorado Rockies shows what could be a very strong team offensively, but there are questions surrounding the team’s pitching.  The Rockies switched to a four-man pitching rotation in mid-June, and reports out of Denver late last season were saying the team planned on utilizing this strategy in 2013 as well.  With superstar players such as Troy Tulowitzki and Carlos González locked up long term, the Rockies have put together a solid base for success in the future, it’s just a matter of placing the correct pieces around them, and that starts with pitching.

Can Clayton Kershaw round back into Cy Young form and lead a voracious starting rotation to the promised land in 2013? By SD Dirk on Flickr (Originally posted to Flickr as “Clayton Kershaw”) [CC-BY-2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

2012 Roundup:

Record: 86-76 (35-37 vs. NL West); finished 2^nd, 8 games behind the Giants.

Team BA: .252

Team ERA: 3.34

The 2012 regular season could not have gotten off to a better start for the Los Angeles Dodgers.  After starting 9-1, the Dodgers finished 16-7 in the month of April, marking the most wins in franchise history in the first month of the season.  A ten-inning victory over the Chicago White Sox gave them a 42-25 record on June 17, which was quite impressive considering the injuries (specifically to Matt Kemp) the team had endured up until this point.  Alas, this marked the beginning of the end for the Dodgers; they lost fifteen of their next twenty games leading into the all-star break, and played .500 baseball throughout the second half of the season.  In mid August, the new owners attempted to salvage the season in a blockbuster trade with the Boston Red Sox, but it proved too be late.  In the trade, the Dodgers acquired Adrian Gonzalez, Josh Beckett, Carl Crawford and Nick Punto, along with their contracts that totaled over $260 million.

Key Offseason Moves:

• Signed free agent Zack Greinke to a six year contract.
• Signed free agent Ryu Hyun-jin to a six year contract.
• Re-signed free agent Brandon League to a three year contract.
• Signed free agent J.P. Howell to a one year contract.
• Traded Jake Lemmerman to the Cardinals for Skip Schumaker.
• Signed Mark McGwire as hitting coach.
• Named Sandy Koufax advisor to the chairman.
• Agreed to a one year extension with Vin Scully.
• Reports of a $7 billion Television deal with Time Warner (reports last week said Major League Baseball still has not received the paperwork to review this deal).

Although 2012 did not finish the way Dodgers fans would have liked, the events that transpired throughout the regular season and well into the offseason have provided renewed hope that the Dodgers organization can finally rise out of the ashes left behind from the oppressive reign of Frank McCourt. One of the most important additions in all of baseball this past offseason could be the addition of Mark McGwire to Don Mattingly‘s coaching staff. His legacy is tainted with steroids, but his talent as a pure hitter was matched by few and his insight will be important to the Dodgers lineup. This roster has the potential to be the best in baseball.

San Diego Padres

2012 Roundup:

Record: 76-86 (34-38 vs. NL West); finished 4^th, 18 games behind the Giants.

Team BA: .247

Team ERA: 4.01

It seemed as if the San Diego Padres were doomed from the very beginning of the season; a 3-12 start led to a 34-53 record at the end of the first half. They followed this up with a 42-33 record in the second half of the season, and made a strong push at the end in an attempt to finish with a .500 record before they dropped six of their last 8, ultimately finishing with a 76-86 record.

Key Offseason Moves:

• Traded Andrew Werner and Andy Parrino to Athletics in exchange for Tyson Ross.
• Re-signed free agent Jason Marquis.
• Signed free agent Freddy Garcia.
• Signed Chase Headley to a one year extension.

The Padres did little this past offseason to help their chances in the NL West, and the one year contract to Headley seems to send the signal they have zero interest on keeping him long term. With that being said, this is not a bad team by any means, it just doesn’t help that other teams in the division have gotten much better as of late. The pitching rotation needs to get better if the team wants any chance of contending late in the season.

To win the NL West, you’ve got to go through AT&T Park. By Coasttocoast at the English language Wikipedia, via Wikimedia Commons

San Francisco Giants

2012 Roundup:

Record: 94-68 (45-27 vs. NL West); finished 1^st, tied for the third best record in the NL.

Team BA: .269

Team ERA: 3.68

At the start of the 2012 regular season it did not seem as if Buster Posey was going to win his second World Series title.  The Giants limped out to a 24-23 record by May 27. From then on they went 70-45 to finish a top the NL West for the second time in three years.  In the first two rounds of the postseason, the Giants went 6-0 in elimination games after coming back from series deficits of 0-2 and 1-3 against Cincinnati and St. Louis, respectively. Against the Tigers in the World Series, the Giants pitching posted a 1.46 ERA and held Detroit to a .156 batting average, clinching the World Series with ease.

Key Offseason Moves:

• Re-signed free agent Angel Pagan to a four year contract.
• Re-signed free agents Jeremy Affeldt and Marco Scutaro to a three year contracts.
• Signed free agent Andres Torres.
• Lost Melky Cabrera, Brian Wilson and Aubrey Huff.

In 2012 the Giants once again showed the baseball world that pitching is the key to winning in the playoffs, but will their passive offseason plan payoff?  Similar to the offseason after their World Series title in 2010, the Giants opted to keep the core of their team intact and focused on keeping the chemistry together; this plan clearly did not work in the 2011 season, so who’s to say it will work now? This past season the Giants got a lot of help since their number one hitter, for much of the season, was using steroids.  This offseason approach has created a number of questions that they Giants will be forced to answer this season.  With the roster the Dodgers have put together, making a case for the Giants to win the division has become much harder, but their pitching, once again, gives them the best chance to do that.