The Man Advantage: College Basketball, The Curse of First

When this college basketball season started, I made a few assumptions: Louisville and Indiana were the best teams in the nation, but Michigan would threaten; the A-10 would be absolutely ridiculous and Butler and VCU would show themselves as the cream of the crop in their first year; and it would be Drexel’s year in the CAA.

The Man Advantage... College Hockey on the Rise

When discussing revenue sports in the NCAA, the conversation has begun and ended with football and men’s basketball, largely. The day may be close where another sport joins the discussion with more regularity: men’s hockey.

TMA: The SEC: Financial and Football Dominance

Monday night, Notre Dame and Alabama faced off for the 2012 BCS National Championship. While the game was a clear rout from the start between the #1 and #2 ranked teams in the nation, it was also a matchup between the top two programs in terms of merchandise sales this season.

The Man Advantage: Feasting!

Stop me if you’ve heard this one before from me:

I love college basketball.

There isn’t another sport that fills me with such happiness and excitement. The pageantry, the rivalries, the fans, the spirit of hope that even the smallest school has a shot at championship glory... couple it with my favorite holiday (Thanksgiving) and Feast Week is without question one of the best things on the planet (disregarding March Madness of course).

While other people were spending their "Feast Week" on “food, family, and FOOOTBAAAAALLLL,” I enjoyed a cornucopia of great college basketball games. From Tuesday to Saturday, I probably watched 15-20 games (with bits and pieces of several others thrown in). Here’s some tidbits that stuck out to me:

  

Drexel guard Frantz Massenet

    1.)    Dragons Fizzle: Is there a bigger early season disappointment than our own Drexel Dragons (Maybe Memphis)? Picked to run train through a depleted CAA, the Dragons have looked remarkably unremarkable through six games. The non-conference schedule, with games against Illinois State, St. Mary’s, and Xavier already, is much improved from last year--unfortunately this team, which returned all notable pieces from last year’s 29 win squad except do-it-all forward Samme Givens, hasn’t earned the pre-season hype. The injury bug has hit frequently, limiting Damion Lee and likely ending Chris Fouch’s Drexel career. Junior guard Frantz Massenet, the preseason CAA Player of the Year, has been sloppy and forwards Dartaye Ruffin and Daryl McCoy have struggled to be consistent presences in the post-Givens era. Fortunately, Drexel started the season very similarly last season before turning it around and winning 25 of 26 games on their way to the CAA Tournament finals: the next few games are very winnable. Unfortunately, however, the Dragons close out 2012 with home games against cross-city foe St. Joseph’s and…

    2.)    Davidson Roars: The Davidson Wildcats, the team that may have impressed me the most this past week. While their 3-3 record so far this season might not seem noteworthy, anyone who saw their victories over Vanderbilt and West Virginia in the Old Spice Classic saw a bracket buster in the making. Their only loss came in the tournament finals against a Gonzaga program that is arguably a top-10 team this season. Keep an eye on these Tigers—this is an experienced team that can do some damage in March.

    3.)    Atlantis Rocks: Was there a better Thanksgiving tournament than the Battle 4 Atlantis? How many tournaments in November can boast four top-20 squads, along with two dangerous mid-majors and two quality major conference teams? The field was something to see, and while three of the four semi-finals teams make my stomach turn with revulsion (I was unable to watch the first semi-final at a risk of losing my Thanksgiving leftovers), the games were fantastic. For the basketball fan who just wants to see a good game, the Louisville-Missouri semi-final was just fun to watch, even as a born-and-raised Kentucky Wildcats fan. The tempo and intensity from both teams reminds us of what we love about March…. In November.

Did you catch much college basketball over the break? What jumped out to you? Answer in the comments!

The Man Advantage: "The Song Remains the Same" for NHL

When the NHL lost the entire 2004-05 season due to CBA negotiations and the resulting lockout, fans prayed the NHL Players Association and franchise owners would have learned their lesson. No one expected another lockout seeming likely a month before the 2012-13 season is set to begin. Lo and behold, here we are eight years later with the same sense of impending doom looming over the NHL as we did the last time the NHLPA and Board of Governors sat down to discuss collective bargaining. 

As I said four months ago, the NHL cannot afford another lockout. As reported by BleacherReport, it took the NHL six years to see its ratings recover from the previous lockout—another lockout would be disastrous. Many big name players (such as Joe Thornton and Rick Nash) are already rumored to have offers on the table from European teams for this next season.

Last week, Chris Botta of SportsBusiness Journal reported that “NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman received almost $8 million in salary and benefits during the fiscal year ending June 30, 2011”, more than double what he made before the 2004-05 lockout. Making this worse, the league reported a loss of $14.7 million for this past fiscal year. The league is "losing money," but the commissioner (as well as several other top league officials) all saw significant increases to their salary.

Add in the looming labor strike (and a NBC Sports contract that still leaves much to be desired) and it’s a situation that seems daunting, at the very least. For the last few months, the league has done nothing to reassure fans of a peaceful resolution to this dispute—the league cancelled its annual season opening games in Europe, and Detroit recently cancelled the 15^th annual Traverse City Prospect Tournament because of the labor uncertainty. The preseason is likely next, and a prolonged dispute might also cancel the All Star Game, if not the entire season.

If the NHL wants to regain its position as one of the “Big Four” North American sports, they have to come to a solution quickly. Donald Fehr and the Player’s Association remain optimistic, but, with less than a month from the September 15^th deadline, there has been no progress in negotiations. There is still a wide gap between the owners and the NHLPA’s demands. Any work stoppage would be disastrous for the league. The NFL and NBA have had years of good favor with fans and the media to lean upon with their potential work stoppages--the NHL doesn't have that same luxury. 

The writing’s on the wall, and fans, it doesn’t look good.