Yesterday, we discussed the unfair nature of letting lower-seeded teams host games in the women’s NCAA tournament. And while the wild crowd at the Breslin Center helped push Michigan State to a stunning upset of Duke, other venues were not quite so fortunate. 10th-seeded San Diego State got to host second-seeded Stanford but drew only 3,651 fans in the 12,000+ seat Cox Arena. In venues where none of the home teams were playing, attendance lagged well below 3,000. Only 1,292 showed up for games in Los Angeles.

(where are all the fans?)

The NCAA decided a while ago to go to pre-determined sites for the women’s tournament, then put as many teams at home as possible, regardless of seeding. So this not only creates unfair matchups, but also kills any hope of drawing crowds in towns with no qualifying team. It used to be that the high seeds would host the first weekend, which would almost certainly draw higher crowds than this, right?

And what’s making the flailing attendance even more eye-opening? Salaries for women’s coaches are soaring.

Read more…

Will 2010 be the last hurrah for March Madness on CBS? The NCAA is currently in an 11-year, $6 billion deal with the network to broadcast its men’s basketball tournament through 2013. However, the NCAA has an opportunity to exercise an option to get out of the deal after next year’s tourney.

(No more Cinderella stories like George Mason for CBS?)

Richard Sandomir of the NEW YORK TIMES brings up the possible scenario of March Madness moving its way off of CBS and bouncing over to another network. Let’s see - what television network with a heavy emphasis on sports programming would be interested in airing such a grandiose event?

Read more…

Did you know that Red M&M’s will give you cancer? And that KFC can’t legally use the word “chicken” anymore? And that Vitaminwater contains substances banned by the NCAA? They’re all about as true as Mikey dying from mixing Pop Rocks and Coke.

The media breathlessly jumped all over the story this week that certain flavors of Vitaminwater, made by NCAA sponsor Coca-Cola, contain certain performance-enhancing chemicals that can cause a player to fail drug tests, therefore losing his eligibility and livelihood. Likely forwarded to you by the same person who sends you emails with the subject line “Forward This to 10 Friends and Your Wish Will Come True,” the news was even seized upon by Drug Free Sports. Problem is, it’s not true.

Read more…

Wichita’s own Bryce Brown, the top-rated high school running back prospect in the country, has not signed with a program officially yet.  His advisor/manager, Brian Butler, is doing everything he can to finagle the best deal and that requires multiple suitors.

Therefore, Butler has tossed in every possible destination he can think of, even if it requires a passport.  That’s why the CFL has come up as one possible home for Brown next season.

Of course, Butler has negotiated in the press that he’d want $15m for his client (that he is totally not an agent for) over three years from the CFL and that’s more than CFL teams are allowed to spend on their entire on-field labor force.

That seems to lay bare the true possibility of a high schooler jumping north for football.  However, do not underestimate how much the CFL may want to shiv the NFL…
Read more…

The NCAA is an odd organization. You can’t give an athlete a ride to the airport without it potentially being seen as an “improper benefit,” but football players going to a bowl game can legally be given all kinds of crap with no questions asked.

And, examining the list of the schwag that’s being handed out, the sting of going to the Poinsettia or Humanitarian Bowl is somewhat offset by the sweet gifts you’ll get for showing up.

After the jump, a look at the best and worst bowl gifts.

Read more…

Remember Chief Illiniwek, the white kid who dressed up in full costume and did a big dance at halftime of every game at the University of Illinois? He was supposed to be gone and buried in 2007, when the school complied with the NCAA’s directive to end all potentially “abusive” imagery involving American Indians.

But not so fast. Seems that a group of Illini students with way too much time (and money, apparently) on their hands are bringing the Chief back, without university approval. However, the group of Chief enthusiasts will be using university property for their new unveiling. This is going to go over great with the NCAA.

Read more…

We all had our fun ragging Auburn’s athletic department several years ago after a NEW YORK TIMES article blew the whistle on dubious classes some of their athletes were taking. The disputed courses were “independent” study classes that appeared to offer quick credits and passing grades for marginal work or actual education.

Sides were taken, heads rolled, much hand-wringing commenced, you know the drill. Only now has the NCAA reached a conclusion on its investigation, and they’ve cleared Auburn of major wrongdoing. Read more…

• WITH LEATHER is sad to discover that Bia & Branca Feres, the similarly sexy synchronized swimmers from Brazil, aren’t on any Olympic roster.

• DEADSPIN feels a great disturbance in the Force, as the Death Star makes a cameo at the Beijing Olympics opening ceremonies.

• Now that Dan Marino has declined to go Dancing With The Stars, NEXT ROUND taps up a list of 11 former athletes they’d like to see on the show.

• ESPN’S NFL NATION finds ex-collegiate skiing star Jeremy Bloom trying to slalom his way to a Steelers roster spot.

Read more…

Rick Greenspan probably brought this all on himself — when you hire a coach who’s been busted for recruiting violations before like Kelvin Sampson, you’re going to take the fall if and when he’s accused of violations again.

So now with the NCAA’s recent revealing of a charge against Indiana University for “failing to monitor” the activities of both Sampson and assistant Rob Senderoff regarding phone calls to recruits, Greenspan decided to get out, his resignation effective at the end of the calendar year.

(He’ll be riding out of Bloomington with the wind in his hair.)

The INDIANAPOLIS STAR reports that the NCAA infractions committee handed down the charge because:

…IU failed “to provide the extra close oversight and scrutiny of all aspects of the men’s basketball program that was required by the prior infractions record of the former coach.” That refers to Sampson breaking recruiting rules while in his previous job at Oklahoma. Penalties from those violations followed Sampson to IU.

Read more…

Outgoing Mississippi State baseball coach Ron Polk lobbied hard for one of his assistant coaches to succeed him. But a power struggle led to that school bringing on a replacement from outside the program.

Polk, aside from threatening to ruin the athletic director’s life and pledging to take his name off the school in every conceivable form, is taking the news pretty well. Read more…