Spin

The other Major League Zip is on the 10-day injured list with a right thumb contusion. https://www.mlb.com/player/jt-brubaker-664141

Yeah I'm wondering how this will affect the weekly Zips Football and Basketball shows. The first move they made when they took over the Fox local networks was axing the Cleveland Monsters hockey games. Gone the next day.

How decimated was the roster that was turned over to Tom Arth? According to Our Lads, there are THREE SENIORS on the current depth chart. Add 8 juniors, 17 sophs, and 20 frosh. Someone tell me I'm reading that wrong...

I listened to the press conference on Sirius and they talked about preserving the conferences and marketing, and scheduling. I got the impression they were going to schedule other schools in the alliance for non-con games. Which probably sounds interesting to fans of those schools. And while playing other G5 schools would make for more interesting non-con games than getting Cornhuskered by 60 points, it’s going to be a big hit to the athletic department budgets without the annual football sacrifice(es).

Perry Kitchen likely out for the season after having back surgery. Columbus Dispatch article

"Bassitt suffered a displaced tripod fracture in his cheek and received stitches for two facial lacerations."

It's a new NCAA Mercy Rule...

Picking on a non-white isn't "white privilege". It's being an Equal Opportunity A hole. Something I'm well known for. And in getting it back.

Chris Bassitt pitched against the Tribe today giving up 3 hits in 6 shutout innings to take the win, final score 17-0. No wonder Terry Francona took the rest of the season off...

Yes

Bowden took us to places we've never been. After that he did a horrible job recruiting and/or coaching. In 2015 the Zips went 8-5 and won their first FBS bowl game. In 2016 the Zips went 5-7 In 2017 the Zips went 7-7 and lost the Boca Raton bowl In 2018 the Zips went 4-8 and he got fired. He had one season above .500 and since then the program declined. Now, my question about Coach Arth. My understanding is, your play makers are usually seniors. Does that mean we're not going to see Tom's recruiting and development until year four? We're not talking about 5 starters like basketball or 11 starters like soccer. In football you're looking at 22 traditional starters, plus situational subs, and special teams. With that thinking we should see some flashes from his recruiting classes this year, and next season have a much better picture of his recruiting and development.

It's not in the budget.

But can the MAC schools survive without the ass-kicking at the hands of the BCS schools? That makes up a significant part of the athletics budgets. Do those left behind drop to 63 scholly's and join FCS? Drop to 36 and play D2? Competition-wise the programs could benefit from downgrading, except maybe soccer (we don't know how bad the budget cuts already made will affect the program). I think some retrenchment was inevitable after the U had the recent pre-COVID money problems. As it turns out, several of our MAC rivals could be going the same route.

So this year our colors are dark dark blue and white? But the schedule has dark blue and old gold. It's like a perpetual identity crisis.

Chris played the Tribe strong, after giving up a homer to Bradley Zimmer on the first pitch. He went 7 innings striking out 8 and giving up two more earned runs on 6 hits. Of course with the A's batting prowess, that resulted in a loss. I shot a couple graphics that were shown in the game.... What that kid could accomplish on a team that can hit itself out of a wet paper bag...

Q

He sure knows how to say a lot of stuff and sounding good, without saying anything.

“At my direction, I asked our championship staff to create models of how we could return our postseason events,” said MAC Commissioner Jon Steinbrecher in a press release. “Conference tournaments are pinnacle events that provide lifetime memories for those involved. I am pleased we are able to reinstate these events for the student-athletes.” "The MAC is one of the only Division I conferences in the nation that's not hosting baseball and softball tournaments in 2021." Huh???

Sounds great in theory. It works so well in the pro leagues, "On any given Sunday..." Problem is in college the networks makes most of their money off of the legacy schools. Alabama, Clemson, Ohio State in football. Throw in Oklahoma, Notre Dame, wash rinse repeat. Put any of those teams in a game, the house is packed and the ratings skyrocket. We can all name the college basketball programs that are the money makers. The NCAA gets their payday from the basketball tournament and the football playoffs.

Apparently the powers-that-be agree…

Bowden also did a crappy job recruiting/transfering his last couple years and left the closet bare. This is not going to be a quick rebuild. IMO.

The term “Game changer” is probably the most overused cliche over the past couple years. But it’s not in this case. At least for the top 30 or 40 schools. It remains to be seen how it will effect mid-majors. Will it draw more mid-major talent to the big programs than the transfer portal already does? I’m not so sure.

I can see this coming into play where a major corporation in say, Columbus would make it known they will sponsor the Buckeyes starting QB for say half a million a year. Will a successful alum like Matt Kaulig put something together like that for a key Zips starter in a sport? Not on the same level of course, (except maybe soccer). Basketball and football would be on a much lower level. But then we don’t recruit the same players in those sports as the top 30 or 40 programs anyway. Would, say, Pepsi sponsor the Zips Striker or goalie? This is a game changer…

Fantasy Baseball Takeaways: Chris Bassitt rolling along Chris Bassitt has to be the best pitcher hardly anyone talks about, so let's talk about him. Bassitt threw seven bagels at the Rangers on Wednesday (3 H, 1 BB, 7 K), scoring his ninth win and taking his ERA down to 3.04. His WHIP is a tidy 1.03. If you rank all starting pitchers in banked 5x5 value, Bassitt comes in at 14th. Bassitt’s stuff doesn’t blow anyone away. His average fastball is a modest 93.2 mph. But he’s pushed his strikeout clip over one per inning, he still has elite control (2.28 BB/9), and he’s been pretty good at keeping the ball in the park. (If you subscribe to xFIP — and I don’t — he’s been too lucky with the homers. The xFIP stat says Bassitt should have a 3.89 ERA. Bassitt’s Savant-suggested ERA is more in line with my thinking, 3.20.) As you’d expect, Bassitt’s best foot comes at home, in roomy Oakland — 2.55 ERA, 0.93 WHIP. The ERA jumps almost a run on the road. The division probably turns into a wash; the Astros and Angels score plenty of runs, the Mariners and Rangers don’t. I suspect many fantasy managers drafted Bassitt as a support arm, but he’s a fantasy No. 3 at worst going forward.

Baby steps... 😭