“Bowl Season-A Great Season”

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America loves college football. King college football on Saturday

Color, pagentry, history, Heisman Trophy races, cheerleaders, spread formations and the chase to be in the 4-team playoffs.

You love what’s coming on New Year’s Eve, when Alabama faces Washington, and Ohio State meets Clemson in the playoffs.

Great intersectional bowl matchups, highlited by USC-vs-Penn State in the Rose Bowl.

Sure there may be too many bowl games. And yes, there can be, and is, griping about (6-6) teams, or the (5-7) schools that have to fill bowl games.

But the bowl trip is such a reward for players hard work. For many, it’s the final game they will ever play in their careers.

It never gets old, even if you are Alabama, and you go bowling every year.

But look at the bowl season from a different angle.

The Poinsettia Bowl tonight brings in Wyoming and Brigham Young. We have seen BYU’s model of excellence for decades here. It’s all part of the heritage of the great coach Lavell Edwards, and what he built the Cougars program into.

But realize where Wyoming was for years recently, the bottom of the conference. See the state pride in Memorial Stadium in Laramie, where Cowboys football is the only thing to cheer about, their only big time program, in the entire state.

The Holiday Bowl history is so special, dating back to the early years of BYU, SMU, Michigan, Ohio State and some of the great scoring affairs fans got to see every December. This year it’s Washington State’s time to light up a scoreboard vs Minnesota.

They’re celebrating in Bowling Green, Kentucky today, because Western Kentucky won a bowl game, beat the bigger oppponent Memphis State (51-31). Not bad for a Hilltopper team that used to be Division 1-AA football.

Next up will be a game in the exotic sounding place, the Bahamas Bowl. Think of Eastern Michigan, one of the woeful programs, with just 1-bowl appearance since the 1960s. They play Old Dominion, who a decade ago didn’t even have football.

When somebody like the Aztecs, from the Group of 5, beats somebody from a Power 5-conference, it’s a signature win. Don’t tell them the Las Vegas Bowl didn’t have meaning, when they got done with the Houston Cougars.

Sure, the powers of the SEC, Big 10, ACC, Big 12, and Pac 12, will have a bunch of teams in the post-season.

But tor the little guy, whose never been there, or for a program that has been down forever, these post-season games become a party to provide a lifetime memory.

They can’t all be Ohio State or an Oklahoma, but to be (13-0) Western Michigan, leaving the snow and cold in Kalamazoo, getting the first chance forever to play on New Year’s Day, an opportunity of a lifetime.

The Bowl season gives us matchups we never get to see. Cross country names facing each other, and a few David’s vs Goliaths also.

College football is king lots of places. Shortly we crown a champion. But between now and that title game, we get to see lots of great athletes, wild offenses, and high scoring games.

Bowl season, a great season.

“USD–Stars in the Shadows”
by Lee ‘Hacksaw’ Hamilton
CW-6 Sports

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It’s a unique place, tucked away on one of the hills above San Diego, with a view of the ocean.

The University of San Diego is a picturesque old-Spanish campus. It’s a school of great academic heritage, with a tremendous Law School amongst other things.

It competes in a unique Athletic setting too. A tremendous non-scholarship football program.

A basketball program tucked into a very tough Division 1-West Coast Conference, having made the NCAA tourney a bunch of years ago.

A baseball program with heritage of pro players, stretching from the current star Kris Bryant to past heroes. USD athletes of yesteryear are sprinkled around major league sportsj

And a world renown collection of Olympic sports too.

Enter Bill McGillis as the new Director of Athletics. A different hire of a veteran administrator, with a track record of building things.

He ran Southern Mississippi, whose most famous alum was legendary quarterback Brett Favre. How tough that job must have been considering its location, Hattiesburg, Mississippi. Not the city it’s in, but where the school is located, in the heart of SEC football.

Prior to that a similar building out job at South Florida, formulating a Division 1-football program from absolute ground zero with then coach Jim Leavitt, and building up quality facilities. And this accomplished right in the middle of the SEC and ACC roadmap..

So McGillis arrives at tiny USD, where stars play in the shadows, despite being located on a hillside looking out on the Pacific.

On another hill cross town is San Diego State, big facilities, a blossoming football program and a big time basketball program.

Just up the highway, all things Pac 12-Conference, as in legendary UCLA and iconic USC.

Where does McGillis go, taking over a program from a dedicated hard worker Ky Snyder, who got facilities built, and watched the small programs grown? Snyder has grown himself, from a player on the San Diego Sports Council, to becoming the COO of the school on the hill.

Somehow-someway, McGillis has to elevate the awareness of USD basketball. Brad Holland’s NCAA-team was a long time ago. And if you are going to play in a power conference with the likes of Gonzaga and St. Mary’s, you better be better than what the Toreros have been.

Maybe McGillis can be a guy who pulls the strings to take USD football where it should go.

Would love to see it become 1AA in football, and be a member of a pretty good conference, the Big Sky. But that takes money, lots of money to fund 63-grants, to compete with the likes of Montana-Eastern Washington and the like. Of course you then have the balancing act with Title IX and women’s sports.

If not, find a way to get infront of the NCAA and get them to pass a different rule, so non scholarship programs like USD and Dayton, really good football programs, can play in Division III against other non-scholarship schools.

The Pioneer Conference means nothing to fans in San Diego, as witnessed by the 2,000 fans or so who show up for home football games.

Having USD go to the post season repping that conference against 1-AA powers, who give scholarships, and get true Division 1-player bouncebacks, is unfair.

Based on what we saw this year thanks to Dale Lindsey, if USD and its conference had truly been Division III, the Torerors might well have been playing in the championship game last weekend, against yearly powers like Mount Union, Wisconsin-Oshkosh and the likes. Alot better chance to play-win than the (45-7) hammering at North Dakota State.

So a “doer” Bill McGillis walks into the front door as AD. Will be interesting to see if his list of accomplishments from USF and USM help him make USD more than a school that plays in the shadows, even if the campus is in the sunshine.

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“Chargers-Black Sunday in their own Black Hole”
by Lee ‘Hacksaw’ Hamilton
CW-6 Sports

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It was as ugly a day as you could find in Chargers history.

The owner telling CBS he was “leaning towards moving to Los Angeles”.

His stadium overwhelmed by Raiders fans, on a day when 68,000-showed up-estimates were that 80% of them were wearing Silver and Black.

The (5-9) team went hammer-and-tong against a more talented Raiders team, but wound up losing again.

The scoreboard would show a (19-16) Raiders win. It’s the 7th time this year the Bolts have lost a 4th quarter lead and lost the game. San Diego did everything but win.

McCoy’s teams are now (1-13) vs teams in the AFC-West.

As hard as they’ve played, they have now lost 7-games this year by 8-points or less.

The Chargers jumped the Raiders early, capitalizing on matchups, but then Oakland made changes and grabbed the game by the throat.

After the early TD, the Raiders took over control of the game, outgaining San Diego (134-to-4) in yardage thru much of the first half.

The defense left it all on the field. They kept the Raiders out of the endzone, stopping them at the 1-3-and-6 yard lines, forcing them to kick Sebastian Janikowski field goals.

But in the end, a fumble and an interception at crunch time killed the Chargers hopes. And big hits by Bruce Irvin and Khalil Mack on Philip Rivers, led to another defeat.

Dean Spanos and his sons should take the blame. Look at what their franchise has turned into. Look at what the town has turned into.

It’s not so much bad football, but more so, how badly Spanos has treated everyone.

Angering everyone by trying to move to Carson. Angering everyone by dumping all over City leadership which was trying to do something for his franchise, not done in a decade and a half, get a stadium built.

Spanos seems paralyzed by the decision he has to make. He’s paralyzed his fan base by his actions.

Salute the Raiders for turning their sickly franchise around. Hard work, hitting the jackpot, and staying healthy, have taken a team that was (56-136) over 11-years, to (11-3) and first place this season.

Look at what the Chargers have become in recent seasons, injuries not withstanding.

Look at the atmosphere in that Stadium, and tell me you are not shocked.

The cup is half-full. I do believe they’ve uncovered enough young talent, that coupled with the talent on injured reserve, this team can bounce back next season.

Sadly is appears they’ll be based in LA when it happens. .

A Black Day in San Diego, seeing their stadium turn into a “Black Hole”.

That’s on the Spanos family and no-one else.

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Chargers-Raiders-Once Upon a Time”

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Oh the history of this rivalry, going back to the old days of the American Football League.

Side Gillman-vs-Al Davis. Al Davis-vs-Don Coryell. Al Davis-vs-Gene Klien.

Daryle Lamonica-vs-Jack Kemp. Ken Stabler-vs-Dan Fouts. Stan Humphries-vs-Jeff Hostettler.

It was Marcus Allen-vs-Junior Seau. and more.

It was Fred Biletnikoff-vs-Speedy Duncan. Then maybe Matt Millen-vs-Kellen Winslow.

From John Madden thru Bobby Ross and Marty Schottenheimer, once upon a time, great coaches roamed the sidelines.

Once upon a time, it was the game and the history.

Now it’s just the Stadium Game, two owners, given their teams by their fathers, who cannot seem to get things done in their communities, for lots of reason.

Oakland, a decayed and dying city. San Diego, with a history of lousy governmental leadership.

Mark Davis, bumbling as a businessmen. Dean Spanos trying to portray himself as some entrepreneur-captain of industry.

They’ll play here Sunday, in what really becomes a Raiders home game ‘in San Diego’, since Chargers fans quit coming.

Oakland has 35,000-fans and that’s about all, but they travel, and there are lots of them still in LA and a bunch in San Diego

In talkshow radio back in the day, we would spend hours talking about the rivalry game, it’s history, the personalities, the big plays and the controversial outcomes.

Now our talk is filled with threats to move, slurs, broken promises, lies, and unmitigated greed.

Sad to see what has happened.

A crumbling Qualcomm Stadium and the sewer that is the Oakland Coliseum.

One owner trying to live up to his father’s great glory in Oakland, the current Chargers leader pale in comparison to what his father accomplished.

The Raiders have picked themselves up off the deck after a decade in which they went (56-136).

The Chargers heritage stained by front office mistakes,and an ownership group that will have just 9-winning seasons in the last 33-years since they bought the team.

Chargers-Raiders-what once was, is no more. Makes you wish for the days of the “Holy Roller”, the hatred, the hotly contested games, that meant something, doesn’t it?

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“Baseball-Union-New Deal”

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It’s done, approved, and becomes the law of the land in baseball starting next December, kicking into effect for the 2018 season. Below, the key parts, and my reaction to the new Collective Bargaining Agreement.

NO INTERNATIONAL DRAFT
…Would have liked to have seen it in place as an equal to the way college and high school talent is distributed….Why should my son, a power hitting catcher have to be drafted, and slotted with bonus pay, while a Cuban or a Latin player, same age, is a true free agent, likely coming here with a big signing bonus?

INTERNATIONAL DRAFT POOL
…This was alternative to the draft idea…Each club will have between 4.5 and 5.7M each year to sign Latin players and others not part of the current draft. It ends the wild spending sprees for unproven Cubans. Call this the AJ Preller rule, after he spent some 66M-to sign Latin players this year. It is a ‘hard cap’ and there will be no exceptions.

INTERNATIONAL FREE AGENTS
…There will be a class of players who don’t fall under the Draft Pool rules. Players who are (25) or older, or have spent 6-years playing in their country’s pro leagues, will be exempt from the pool. It would have meant a 22-year old Yasiel Puig would have been covered in the international pool, but an Ichuro Suzuki would have been a true free agent-ready for a bidding war.

WORLD SERIES-HOME FIELD ADVANTAGE
…The end of the bad Bud Selig idea that the winner of the All Star game (exhibition) would get home field advantage for their league in the World Series (most important games). It was a cheap stunt

ELIMINATE 1ST ROUND DRAFT PICK COMPENSATION
…Ideal for the few players each winter who got the max qualifying offers (17M-this year) and found their bargaining ability limited because teams would not want to give up a 1st round pick for an aging free agent they’d sign.

DRAFT PICK COMPENSATION
…A new rule. If you sign a player who was given the max qualifying offer, and you are a team paying luxury tax, you have to forefeit a 2nd and 5th round pick, and give up 1M of your international pool too to the club that lost a player. If you are a revenue sharing team, and sign a qualifying offer player, then you give up a 3rd round pick as compensation.

FREE AGENT QUALIFYING OFFERS
…A new approach, you can be given the Q-offer just one time in your career starting next season.

CLUB TRADES
…Next year, teams will be allowed to trade a large segment of their 5M-international signing pool money in deals, but cannot trade picks in the June draft.

LUXURY THRESHOLD
…This impacts just a few teams, the big money teams. The tax will kick in if your payroll exceeds 195M for the 2018 season. The tax threshold will increase each year, as revenue increases.

TAX RATES
…It’s expensive if you are the Dodgers, Yankees, Red Sox, teams almost always over the tax limit. If you are 20-to-40M over the tax, you pay a 12% tax the first year. If you are 40M plus over the tax limit, you pay 42% tax that given year. If you go over the tax limit a 2nd and 3rd year in a row, the tax rate could go as high as 75% on the overage. The Dodgers have a major crisis. Their payroll right now borders on 240M. Do the math what they have to pay at a 12% penalty rate, some 45M over the threshold.

SPRING TRAINING SCHEDULE
…Next year, spring training gets cut by a week…There will be four more off days during the regular season, that will now start the last week of March.

162 GAME SCHEDULE
…It was discussed, a possible cutback, but was nixed, going instead to the early season start with more off days in season.

DISABLED LIST
…The DL goes from 15-days to a 10-day list, which means more minor leaguers get called up (getting service time), and players get put on DL for fewer days.

TEAM TRAINERS
…Teams must provide dieticians and nutrition specialists, and each club will offer pregame and post game meals to players. Meal money for players cut from $130 per day to $30 a day.

DESIGNATED HITTER
…Never ruled on. American League stays with the DH…National League will have pitchers hitting 9th…(Pitchers BA last year .092).

25-MAN ROSTERS
…Talked about increasing to 26-which would help pitching staffs, but was voted down.

SEPTEMBER ROSTERS
…Huge argument about teams going with 40-man rosters the final month of season, loading up with pitchers, and impacting games with pennant race implications. Thoughts of a 28-man active roster in September, but voted down, so we stay at 40.