Ravi Shankar, the Indian sitar master who built a global following and pioneered the charity concert, has died.
His official website carried this statement: “With profound grief and sorrow, we mourn the passing of Pandit Ravi Shankar on December 11, 2012. He died in San Diego at 4:30 pm Pacific time. He was 92.” … Read More
(via WSJ)
Tonight, at the Downtown Athletic Club in New York, one player will be named the 2012 Heisman Trophy winner. While public sentiment seems to be waffling a bit over the last week or so as to who will be the winner, it does seem clear that the recipient will either be a freshman or a defensive player. What we want to know is, who do you think will win?
If you think someone other than Manziel, Te’o, or Klein will win, explain in the comments below. Similarly, if you want someone to win, but don’t think he will, explain that too.
Think you’re a pro when it comes to college football? Then prove it by competing against ALDLAND contributors and readers in our college football bowl pick’em contest. It’s free to join. All you need to do is read AD’s bowl preview, then click here to enter your picks. One entry per person, so make it count.
As reported everywhere yesterday, Bret Bielema is leaving his head coaching position at Wisconsin to become the head coach at Arkansas.
Bielema’s in his seventh year at Wisconsin, and he took the Badgers to a bowl game every year. When Wisconsin appears in the Rose Bowl this January, it will be the school’s third consecutive trip to Pasadena. Ten or fifteen years ago, a record and trajectory like this would cement the forty-two year-old Bielema’s (68-24 career record) destiny to become a legendary coach at Wisconsin and a top-echelon coach in college football’s historic conference. Today, it makes him plan B for a 4-8 team that went 2-6 in conference and itself lacks a consistent historical conference and regional identity.
To be fair, Arkansas was a top-five team last year, and had Bobby Petrino and his mistress not crashed his motorcycle, the Razorbacks probably would’ve contended for a national championship this year. Instead, another former Big Ten head coach rode the Hogs hard into the ground. (Then again, he’s got an acknowledged history of that.)
As much as Bielema’s decampment to Fayettville reflects the diminished stature of the Big Ten and affirms the completed rise of the SEC (and it’s hard to imagine the former’s recent expansion to fourteen teams didn’t play a role here), one has to wonder whether the Big Ten’s realization that the SEC is college football’s premiere conference actually indicates that we’re at some point on the downside of Peak SEC.
Whatever Bielema’s decision indicates about the state of college football, one thing seems clear: any complaints from the new Hog coach about recruiting tactics are going to fall on deaf ears in SEC land.
The full bowl schedule, including times and broadcast networks, is here. Some highlights, in chronological order: Continue reading
I didn’t think Detroit sports could leave me speechless twice in one week, but then I saw this story. From MLive.com:
Detroit Red Wings prospect Riley Sheahan had a blood-alcohol content of .30 – nearly four times the legal limit and nearly double the threshold for the “super-drunk’ charge he faces following his arrest in late October by Grand Rapids Police.
Sheahan, 20, who plays for the Grand Rapids Griffins, was wearing the costume of a purple Teletubby, also known as Tinky Winky, when he was pulled over by police on Oct. 29.
He also was charged with providing false information. He was carrying the Michigan driver’s license of Brendan Smith when he was pulled over by police on Ottawa Avenue NW in downtown Grand Rapids.
Sheahan, who is from St. Catharines, Ontario, is teammates on the Griffins with Smith, also a touted Red Wings prospect.
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Full story here: http://mobile.mlive.com/advannarbor/pm_115751/contentdetail.htm?contentguid=Vv3ROLss
Based on the information I’ve seen online, police arrested Sheahan right outside an office building in which I used to work.
(HT: Laura)
Spending all day on the road meant I got to hear all the daytime sports radio I could handle. Thrilling, I know. I did pick up a few interesting nuggets, though:
– If Johnny Manziel wins the Heisman Trophy this year, as experts now expect, he will be the first freshman to do so. He won’t be the youngest winner, though. That distinction belongs to Mark Ingram, Jr.
– Apparently there’s some sort of adderall flap surrounding the Philadelphia Eagles and other NFL players. All the obvious issues aside, ProFootballTalk.com’s Mike Florio said that he thinks the adderall story is a cover up. Because the NFL has a policy of not commenting or elaborating on players’ positive drug tests, the players are free to say whatever they’d like about the test. Florio thinks that adderall is the convenient cover story du jour for players who actually tested positive for a more controversial substance.
– Kentucky hired Florida State defensive coordinator Mike Stoops to serve as Joker Phillips’ replacement at the football head coach position. While Kentucky local sports talk radio listeners generally approved of the hire, citing the successes of the Stoops family and Mike’s own rapid improvement of the FSU defense, no one mentioned the only factor that matters right now for the future success of UK football: program funding. Don’t forget that the UK athletic department just spent more on a preseason basketball pep rally than it did on an entire year of football recruiting. For Stoops’ sake, I hope he negotiated a substantial increase in funding for the football program. If not, his pedigree and resume will be irrelevant.
– Before leaving Army for Duke, Mike Krzyzewski interviewed at Vanderbilt but didn’t take the job because the VU athletic director at the time, fearing media exposure of an ongoing search, wouldn’t let Coach K visit the campus.
The end of November is always exciting, as teams from the Big Ten and ACC take the court to decide which conference is superior. The Big Ten is on a three year winning streak, and looks to continue its dominance with a few top five teams taking the court. Listen as ALDLAND contributor Marcus Paschall and I break down the matchups and give our thoughts on who we think will win. There’s also some discussion of how much longer James Franklin will continue to coach Vanderbilt. I hope you will forgive me if the podcast sounds choppy at times, as I was cooking dinner while recording it. Guy’s gotta eat, ya dig?
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There are no words necessary or sufficient to describe today’s game, so here’s Gunther Cunningham, Detroit’s defensive coordinator:
Happy thanksgiving
Rutgers and Maryland have joined the Big Ten conference.
From the Big Ten perspective, what a stupid idea. What an obviously stupid idea. Just because everybody’s jumping off the sinking Big East ship as fast as possible doesn’t mean the Big Ten needs to act as a refugee camp for below-average escapees. Already in a bad spot heading into this fall, the Big Ten has made itself worse this week, and no comment about “Maryland basketball” or “Rutgers and the New York market” can change my mind.
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