Mornin Mates...
Today's Topic = No More Shellackings
I don't know what criteria our new AD will use to evaluate our Big 3 sports but I hope getting "shellacked by opponents" is on his list of what better not happen from now on in football, basketball or baseball...
Dilly and his staff, when playing this next season in the Big 12, better not have shellacking losses like the Devils had against the Utes last season (55-3) or against the Ducks (49-13) or, worst yet, a 59-23 loss to the Cats...
And, Bobby and his staff better not be losing by scores like 105-60 to any opponent, much less the Cats...
And, Willie and his staff can't be losing by a half-dozen or more runs, after only an inning or two or three, that then require us to score an inordinate amount of runs with which to catch up in order to win, etc...
That kind of nonsense has to stop, in my opinion, even if we win more than 3 games in football this season or have a winning season in basketball or win 30 or more games in baseball...
And, we better win more than 3 games in football, especially since we don't have to face teams like Oregon, USC or Washington anymore (or Texas or Oklahoma, either)...
And, in basketball, why are we having losing seasons in a coach's 9th year at ASU..??
And, in baseball, isn't it time we start making the postseason tournament once again..??
I like that we have Sun Devils running our football and baseball programs and now have an AD who is also a die-hard Sun Devil at heart, but the Valley isn't going to be really Activated until those programs start winning at a high level and aren't getting shellacked along the way, either...
I also like that our new AD - Graham Rossini - meets the height requirement, since he is 6'5," which makes him uncomfortable while trying to sit during a game at our basketball arena...
He's brought that up when talking about the need to renovate the Desert Financial Arena that will require a lot of money in order to do so...
Which brings up the matter of where capital expenditures fit in this newly redesigned Sun Devil athletic dept..??
The Wildcats athletic dept got into a lot of trouble last year, when it was unable to repay a loan made by the school to the athletic dept, in order to upgrade McKale Center where the Cats play basketball...
The loan of $83 million made to the athletic dept had been made years earlier and no part of it had been repaid, which caused all kinds of problems for their athletic dept, that subsequently culminated with their AD being fired...
I'm sure none of that was lost on either president Crow or our Chief Business Officer for Sun Devil athletics, Graham Rossini, who decided that a new approach to funding athletics was needed at ASU...
And, as a result, we now have a new way of doing business within our Sun Devil athletic dept and a new AD who was a primary architect of this new model...
In addition to overseeing 26 sports at ASU, our new AD and his staff will have to deal with the significant pay-for-play NIL platform that is run outside of the university and with the fallout from the NCAA antitrust settlement that may ultimately lead to schools paying their student-athletes directly as employees...
And, if that happens, where are the funds going to come from in order to do so, since our athletic dept is now just another business unit of the school..??
Will the school subsidize this or will the revenue generating sports have to do so or will the cost be shared..??
It's enough to make one's brain swell with lots of anxiety, so I hope and trust that our new AD is up to the task at hand...
But, in the meantime, it's time for our Big 3 sports to always win more than they lose and never to lose by ridiculous margins while competing against any and all opponents...
And, to get to a championship level of play, in the not too distant future, in our new conference, even if it isn't the Conference of Champions anymore...
Have a good Memorial Day and remember what that all means in the "real world" on a day to day basis...
G'day Mates and Go Devils!!!
Today's Topic = No More Shellackings
I don't know what criteria our new AD will use to evaluate our Big 3 sports but I hope getting "shellacked by opponents" is on his list of what better not happen from now on in football, basketball or baseball...
Dilly and his staff, when playing this next season in the Big 12, better not have shellacking losses like the Devils had against the Utes last season (55-3) or against the Ducks (49-13) or, worst yet, a 59-23 loss to the Cats...
And, Bobby and his staff better not be losing by scores like 105-60 to any opponent, much less the Cats...
And, Willie and his staff can't be losing by a half-dozen or more runs, after only an inning or two or three, that then require us to score an inordinate amount of runs with which to catch up in order to win, etc...
That kind of nonsense has to stop, in my opinion, even if we win more than 3 games in football this season or have a winning season in basketball or win 30 or more games in baseball...
And, we better win more than 3 games in football, especially since we don't have to face teams like Oregon, USC or Washington anymore (or Texas or Oklahoma, either)...
And, in basketball, why are we having losing seasons in a coach's 9th year at ASU..??
And, in baseball, isn't it time we start making the postseason tournament once again..??
I like that we have Sun Devils running our football and baseball programs and now have an AD who is also a die-hard Sun Devil at heart, but the Valley isn't going to be really Activated until those programs start winning at a high level and aren't getting shellacked along the way, either...
I also like that our new AD - Graham Rossini - meets the height requirement, since he is 6'5," which makes him uncomfortable while trying to sit during a game at our basketball arena...
He's brought that up when talking about the need to renovate the Desert Financial Arena that will require a lot of money in order to do so...
Which brings up the matter of where capital expenditures fit in this newly redesigned Sun Devil athletic dept..??
The Wildcats athletic dept got into a lot of trouble last year, when it was unable to repay a loan made by the school to the athletic dept, in order to upgrade McKale Center where the Cats play basketball...
The loan of $83 million made to the athletic dept had been made years earlier and no part of it had been repaid, which caused all kinds of problems for their athletic dept, that subsequently culminated with their AD being fired...
I'm sure none of that was lost on either president Crow or our Chief Business Officer for Sun Devil athletics, Graham Rossini, who decided that a new approach to funding athletics was needed at ASU...
And, as a result, we now have a new way of doing business within our Sun Devil athletic dept and a new AD who was a primary architect of this new model...
In addition to overseeing 26 sports at ASU, our new AD and his staff will have to deal with the significant pay-for-play NIL platform that is run outside of the university and with the fallout from the NCAA antitrust settlement that may ultimately lead to schools paying their student-athletes directly as employees...
And, if that happens, where are the funds going to come from in order to do so, since our athletic dept is now just another business unit of the school..??
Will the school subsidize this or will the revenue generating sports have to do so or will the cost be shared..??
It's enough to make one's brain swell with lots of anxiety, so I hope and trust that our new AD is up to the task at hand...
But, in the meantime, it's time for our Big 3 sports to always win more than they lose and never to lose by ridiculous margins while competing against any and all opponents...
And, to get to a championship level of play, in the not too distant future, in our new conference, even if it isn't the Conference of Champions anymore...
Have a good Memorial Day and remember what that all means in the "real world" on a day to day basis...
G'day Mates and Go Devils!!!
