Mike Dyce on Sports

FSU Board Fans Flames

We’re all aware that FSU’s President Eric Barron sent out a memo weighing the pros and cons of being in the Big 12. That of course started the rumors, but it seemed to be just that rumors that were quickly dissipating. Even the Big 12′s new commissioner Bob Bowlsby hardly acknowledged the rumors saying he [...]

Well That Sucked… ROYALLY

The Rangers got swept by the Kansas City Royals. The first time they’ve been swept all season. Since starting the season 13-3 they’ve gone a mediocre 10-11 since. Some people are starting to panic around DFW so let’s talk about it. First of all, it was a two game series calm down. Second, it’s a [...]

Carlisle And Mavs Ink Deal

Dallas Mavericks Head Coach Rick Carlisle will be back for another 4 years, and maybe, hopefully a couple more NBA Championships. Rick Carlisle is notably the only head coach in the organization’s history to lead the team to the promised land of championship bling. “We are excited that Rick will be back with the mavericks [...]

FSU To Join Big 12?

According to ESPN reports, they have obtained a memo from Florida State University President Eric Barron that outline the Pros and Cons of joining the Big 12. Reportedly 4 for the move to the Big 12 and 7 against it. Let’s go over his Pro-List first. $2.9 million more per year in Big 12 contract [...]

FSU Prez’s Memo On Move To Big 12

Here is the FSU Memo as reported by ESPN: Florida State president Dr. Eric Barron has written a memo obtained by ESPN that includes four key points that would support a move from the ACC to the Big 12 and seven longer key points that argue against it: I want to assure you that any [...]

FSU Board Fans Flames

May 16th, 2012

Mike Dyce

We’re all aware that FSU’s President Eric Barron sent out a memo weighing the pros and cons of being in the Big 12. That of course started the rumors, but it seemed to be just that rumors that were quickly dissipating. Even the Big 12′s new commissioner Bob Bowlsby hardly acknowledged the rumors saying he thinks college football needs to stop the realignment. Texas AD DeLoss Dodds also quickly dismissed the rumors.

Then entered FSU’s Andy Haggard, Chairman of the Board of Trustees fanned the flames of the Big 12 rumors.

“On behalf of the Board of Trustees I can say that unanimously we would be in favor of seeing what the Big 12 might have to offer. We have to do what is in Florida State’s best interest,” Andy Haggard told Warchant.com.

But Bowlsby isn’t giving in to repeated inquiries about possibly expanding and adding FSU.

“I think the topic of expansion will be on every agenda going forward. But it’s on every other conference’s agenda going forward, too,” Big 12 Commissioner Bob Bowlsby told the USA Today.

“It’s all about driving value for the member institutions,” Bowlsby said. “There is a case to be made for optimal value being driven by the status quo, and there is a case to be made for some form of expansion. And I’m not prejudging or adopting either side of that right now.”

Well That Sucked… ROYALLY

May 16th, 2012

Mike Dyce

The Rangers got swept by the Kansas City Royals. The first time they’ve been swept all season. Since starting the season 13-3 they’ve gone a mediocre 10-11 since. Some people are starting to panic around DFW so let’s talk about it.

First of all, it was a two game series calm down.

Second, it’s a 162 game season. Even teams that win 92 games and are considered successful still lose 70! At 23-14 they’re still slated to end up with a final season record of 101-61. Pretty good right. I mean Josh wasn’t going to hit multiple home runs every game.

Ok, maybe just every other game.

“Don’t jump off the ship,” Manager Washington said. ”You’ll sink. We’ll return as a submarine and you can’t get back on.”

Perhaps a stab at the outpouring of Texas Rangers “bandwagon fans.” Since the Rangers have experienced some success lately there has been an explosion of Ranger merchandise in the DFW area. You use to never see it anywhere, now a day, or hour goes by where you don’t see people wearing Rangers’ gear. Men, women, children, everyone. People who wore Rangers gear were diehard fans and it was rare to see gear or apparel on people or at stores. I brought a Rangers hat to Old Yankee Stadium in the Bronx in 1996 when the Rangers played their first playoff series against the New York Yankees.

But two American League Championships and two World Series appearances will bring fans around. And even diehard fans can’t complain as much as they would like to. They were there through the bad times, and gosh, were there bad times. But the Rangers having a ballpark filled with 40,000 + on a Monday night is only good news for the organization as a whole. Bandwagoners still have to spend money.

But this is a resilient bunch, a confident bunch, an optimistic team and look for them to turn things around.

“We feel like we’re always one pitch from turning anything around,” Michael Young said. “That’s one reason why I think we’re a really good team.

“We believe in ourselves. Every guy individually here knows what they’re capable of doing in this game. You combine that with some mental toughness and you’re always one pitch, one at-bat, one swing from getting right back to where you want to be.”

Carlisle And Mavs Ink Deal

May 16th, 2012

Mike Dyce

Dallas Mavericks Head Coach Rick Carlisle will be back for another 4 years, and maybe, hopefully a couple more NBA Championships. Rick Carlisle is notably the only head coach in the organization’s history to lead the team to the promised land of championship bling.

“We are excited that Rick will be back with the mavericks for at least the next 4 years, Mark Cuban said in a statement. “He is a proven winner, a great teacher and a coach that will help the Mavericks improve as a team and as an organization.

More importantly Rick Carlisle was one of the more important free agent targets this offseason at the top of the list with Deron Williams. Keeping in place a talented and smart Coach at the helm of the ship is important in luring free agents.

Rick Carlisle also has the playoff pedigree to prove it. Despite book end first round exits on both sides of that 2011 NBA Championship Rick Carlisle has a deep playoff history in his coaching career. Carlisle also has two Conference Finals appearances, and 4 division titles in his ten year coaching career.

Rick Carlisle is 198-114 as head coach of the Dallas Mavericks.

FSU To Join Big 12?

May 14th, 2012

Mike Dyce

According to ESPN reports, they have obtained a memo from Florida State University President Eric Barron that outline the Pros and Cons of joining the Big 12. Reportedly 4 for the move to the Big 12 and 7 against it.

Let’s go over his Pro-List first.

$2.9 million more per year in Big 12 contract (not signed yet) over ACC Contract.
ACC is too North Carolina Centric

His Con-List includes the following:

Removing the natural rival with ACC foe University of Miami which “fills stadiums”
ACC is an equal share conference (In Big 12 for example Texas will always get more money than FSU)
It would cost $20-$25 million to leave ACC, the money has got to come from somewhere.
Faculty opposed to joining an academically inferior conference.

Obviously that’s not the total list.

I think, and I as a Big 12 fan may be biased in saying this, think it is a great idea. It is important to note that Texas Athletic Director DeLoss Dodds has said that there have been no conversations between the Big 12 and FSU.

When you read the memo though you cans see that this is almost a utopian dream not a near reality. But think about how great it would be. Colorado, Mizzou, A&M, and Nebraska leave and you get in return FSU, TCU, and West Virginia? Florida State is a football school in a basketball conference. What other football teams are in that conference? Boston College, University of Miami, Virginia Tech, and North Carolina State maybe.

The Big 12 would still need a 12th team to regain a Conference Championship game. Why not go after The U too? That way FSU gets to keep their rivalry. You might even open the door for other ACC or Big East teams to join the Big 12 making east and west divisions. Obviously that would be over years, not one offseason.

I say screw it take Virginia Tech and Virginia too. West Virginia needs some close friends too. That of course is very far-fetched and unrealistic.

But in the meantime if you had to target two schools to go after to add to the Big 12, why would you not go after Florida State and Miami? We’re bordered on the east by the SEC and schools aren’t leaving the SEC to head to the Big 12, quite obviously that’s a one way road to the SEC. The immediate west has nothing, but maybe trying to poach from the Pac-12, which is unlikely. The North is the Big 10 Conference and no one is leaving the Big 10 to come to the Big 12, they have a very large equal share deal too, not to mention a conference channel.

So you almost have to leapfrog the Big 10 and SEC to get to the eastern seaboard to expand. And Miami and Florida State would be a great pair to add. They both haven’t been in the ACC for too long to have any deep rooted traditions there, FSU joined in 1991 and Miami in 2004. Both are large football programs with high academic standards that make them a good fit.

FSU and Oklahoma played showing how intense the game could be between storied programs despite distance.

My favorite reason why FSU should join the Big 12… the girls! And how fun would it be to make those road trips to Florida for games.

More importantly if you don’t go after Florida State and University of Miami, sooner or later the SEC will to make it 16 teams with two 8-team divisions.

FSU Prez’s Memo On Move To Big 12

May 14th, 2012

Mike Dyce

Here is the FSU Memo as reported by ESPN:

Florida State president Dr. Eric Barron has written a memo obtained by ESPN that includes four key points that would support a move from the ACC to the Big 12 and seven longer key points that argue against it:

I want to assure you that any decision made about FSU athletics will be reasoned and thoughtful and based on athletics, finances and academics. Allow me to provide you with some of the issues we are facing:

In support of a move are four basic factors argued by many alumni:

1. The ACC is more basketball than it is football, and many of our alumni view us as more football oriented than the ACC

2. The ACC is too North Carolina centric and the contract advantages basketball and hence advantages the North Carolina schools

3. The Big 12 has some big football schools that match up with FSU

4. The Big 12 contract (which actually isn’t signed yet) is rumored to be $2.9M more per year than the ACC contract. We need this money to be competitive.

But, in contrast:

1. The information presented about the ACC contract that initiated the blogosphere discussion was not correct. The ACC is an equal share conference and this applies to football and to basketball — there is no preferential treatment of any university with the exception of 3rd tier rights for women’s basketball and Olympic sports. FSU is advantaged by that aspect of the contract over the majority of other ACC schools.

2. Colorado, Missouri, Nebraska and Texas A&M left the Big 12, at least in part because the Big 12 is not an equal share conference. Texas has considerably more resource avenues and gains a larger share (and I say this as a former dean of the University of Texas at Austin – I watched the Big 12 disintegration with interest). So, when fans realize that Texas would get more dollars than FSU, always having a competitive advantage, it would be interesting to see the fan reaction.

3. Much is being made of the extra $2.9M that the Big 12 contract (which hasn’t been inked yet) gets over the ACC contract. Given that the Texas schools are expected to play each other (the Big 12 is at least as Texas centered than the ACC is North Carolina centered), the most likely scenario has FSU playing Kansas, Kansas State, Iowa State, and West Virginia on a recurring basis and the other teams sporadically (and one more unnamed team has to join to allow the Big 12 to regain a championship game), we realize that our sports teams can no longer travel by bus to most games — the estimate is that the travel by plane required by FSU to be in the Big 12 appears to exceed the $2.9M difference in the contract — actually giving us fewer dollars than we have now to be competitive with the Big 12 teams, who obviously do not have to travel as far. Any renegotiated amount depends not just on FSU but the caliber of any other new team to the Big 12.

4. Few believe that the above teams will fill our stadium with fans of these teams and so our lack of sales and ticket revenue would continue. 5. We would lose the rivalry with University of Miami that does fill our stadium

6. It will cost between $20M and $25M to leave the ACC — we have no idea where that money would come from. It would have to come from the Boosters which currently are unable to support our current University athletic budget, hence the 2% cut in that budget.

7. The faculty are adamantly opposed to joining a league that is academically weaker — and in fact, many of them resent the fact that a 2% ($2.4M) deficit in the athletics budget receives so much attention from concerned Seminoles, but the loss of 25% of the academic budget (105M) gets none when it is the most critical concern of this University in terms of its successful future.

I present these issues to you so that you realize that this is not so simple (not to mention that negotiations aren’t even taking place). One of the few wise comments made in the blogosphere is that no one negotiates their future in the media. We can’t afford to have conference affiliation be governed by emotion — it has to be based on a careful assessment of athletics, finances and academics. I assure you that every aspect of conference affiliation will be looked at by this institution, but it must be a reasoned decision.

Josh: Contract Talks Not A Distraction

May 10th, 2012

Mike Dyce

Josh Hamilton the other night hit 4 Home Runs in a game, only the 16th player in the history of Major League Baseball to do so. Babe Ruth, Mickey Mantle, and Barry Bonds never did it. And again the Rangers’ fans, myself included, were begging Jon Daniels to sign Josh.

Hard to argue as Josh Hamilton leads the AL and NL, in the Triple Crown categories that he is on another MVP pace. It’s definitely not a distraction. It’s a motivator for Josh Hamilton. Josh is going to put up ridiculous numbers to bring in a big fish contract!

“I’m not going to let it be a distraction for me,” Hamilton said. “I’m going to keep trying to play good and put up good numbers and do what I can. I think they kind of want to see things play out and see me be healthy and play and all that.”

And Josh is driving up the price. The Rangers could have probably got him for $13-$15 million a year, and now Josh has to be at least getting a $100 million 5 year deal.

“There’s nothing new to say about the situation,” Rangers general manager Jon Daniels said .

“We want Josh to remain a Ranger for a long time, and he’s expressed that the feeling is mutual. Beyond that, we are not going to discuss any potential negotiations, with Josh or other players” JD said.

”Why worry about something that likely won’t happen anyway?” Hamilton said. “Just have fun, go out and play and help me team win. That’s all I want to do. I want to win a World Series.”"I pray all the time that God has us where he wants us to be at the end of the season,” Hamilton said. “If that’s with Texas, it’s with Texas. If not, I’ll be happy to go wherever he wants us to go.

“It’s easy for me to focus. I’m under contract with the Texas Rangers to play baseball this season, so what do I have to do on a daily basis to come in and play the best I possibly can that night? Thinking about all that stuff and how to do the best I can that night doesn’t allow me to think about what’s going on next year.”

Jenkins To Stay With Cowboys

May 10th, 2012

Mike Dyce

Dallas Cornerback Mike Jenkins will not be traded by the Dallas Cowboys. Many anticipated that the Dallas Cowboys would trade Mike Jenkins amid the signing of free agent stud Brandon Carr and the drafting of Morris Claiborne. The Cowboys had resigned Orlando Scandrick before the draft and in hindsight probably wish they would’ve given that money to Jenkins.

But the thought of having a secondary with Carr, Claiborne and Jenkins is tantalizing and exciting. What was a weakness for the Cowboys just a season ago could be a strength.

“He’s a vital part of our plan,” Jones said of Jenkins at the Cowboys’ annual golf outing Wednesday. “We know that we’ve got a situation where we can identify what we are on defense by having three corners in there a lot.”

Jenkins has been said to want a deal like Brandon Carr’s or Cortland Finnegan, in the $50 million range, and that is highly unlikely if he were to resign with the Cowboys, so this is most likely his last season with a star on his helmet. Drew Rosenhaus is his agent and he’s likely to go for the biggest deal he can find.

“I see short-term and long-term with Jenkins,” said Jones, who also serves as the team’s general manager. “We’ve also got Scandrick, we got some room if somebody gets nicked not to have to adjust. We can come out there and spend some time really utilizing where we are at corner. The decision to bring Claiborne in was a big part of that. There’s no interest on my part at all of trading Jenkins. None.”

Jenkins still could be the starter going into this season while Claiborne adjusts to the NFL and recovers from his offseason surgery to remove pins from his wrist.

Josh Slides On Tarp

May 10th, 2012

Mike Dyce

Last night the Rangers/Orioles game was cancelled due to rain. We’ve seen the numerous videos of the game by now, especially the one where Josh Hamilton lead some Texas Rangers into running across the field and sliding on the water filled tarp, which had essentially transformed into a slip n slide.

Ok Josh, WTF? Why are you running out there on a makeshift slip n slide?

Everyone is saying to me, well he’s human, and it’s fun, and he didn’t get hurt you can prevent him from getting hurt.

The issue here is the decision making. Josh Hamilton made a decision to do something that put himself in danger. It was reckless. We are all thankful that he is not hurt, but if Josh had injured himself doing this everyone else would be bitching and complaining. But since I’m the only one who realizes this was a poor decision I’m left out there to defend my opinion.

The point is Josh sat there and thought to himself, I’ve been plagued by injuries in my last two years, I’m on a tear so far in this season leading all of the majors in 4 batting stats including the triple crown components, and I’m going to jeopardize it all by running and diving on a tarp in the rain.

Think of it this way. Josh runs out there and injures himself sliding on the tarp and not only hampers his teams chances at a World Series but costs himself millions. Now all those teams ready to sign him to $20 million a year contracts are reassured that he is injury prone and a liability and that big contract he is earning becomes smaller.

It was a stupid decision, thankfully that didn’t blow up in our face this time.

Kidd To Recruit D-Williams

May 8th, 2012

Mike Dyce

On ESPN a lot lately, thanks to the NFL Draft, we’ve been seeing stories about NFL Quarterbacks either wanting or not wanting to mentor their replacements. For instance the famed incident between Brett Favre and Aaron Rodgers and how Favre wanted nothing to do with his development.

Well not in the NBA, though slightly different the Dallas Mavericks starting point guard Jason Kidd has expressed his readiness to recruit the younger Deron Williams to Dallas to take the reins of this Mavericks offense.

In fact, Jason Kidd said he is willing to relinquish his “Starter’s Spot” to D-Will to get him to come to Dallas. That only makes sense, the Mavericks already try so hard to monitor Kidd’s minutes afraid to put in a back up at the PG spot. But what a 1-2 punch at the helm of this offense. You’d have to feel extremely confident that the Mavericks would be comfortable with D-Will resting on the bench with J.Kidd filling in.

“That works. What’s wrong with that? That’s not a bad guy to help out. If it comes to that, that would be not a bad situation” Kidd said in response to being asked if he’d give up his starter’s role to Deron Williams. Kidd is about rings at this point, and if this gets him 1 more I think it’d be worth it to him.

So how will Kidd recruit Williams?

“We’ll spend some time golfing and we got the same agent (Jeff Schwartz), so that makes it easy,” Kidd said.

Why would Deron Williams be willing to listen to Jason Kidd? Well not only were they Team USA teammates in Beijing but Jason Kidd is Deron Williams childhood hero, and still his favorite player. Not to mention this means playing in his home town. And it was well documented the amount of time Deron Williams spent around the Mavs in their 2011 NBA Title run.

And unfortunately in the 2012 playoffs we saw how important it was to bring in a another offensive threat. As much of a pleasant surprise Delonte West is, you can’t argue he is a better option the Deron Williams. The NBA is built around teams with multiple offensive threats who can make something happen. For example Oklahoma City Thunder with Russell Westbrook, Kevin Durant, and James Harden or Miami Heat with LeBron James, Dwayne Wade, and Chris Bosh.

Nowitzki agrees with that sentiment.

“If you look at the team we just lost to, it was (Russell) Westbrook in Game 1 and Game 2, it was Durant (in Game 3), and (in Game 4 Saturday) they just throw it to Harden and he goes off,” Nowitzki said.

“If you want to be an elite team in this league right now, you have to have at least two or three guys that can just go off at any time. I just thought they had more weapons than us. That was pretty clear.”

Well hopefully there will be a homecoming for Deron Williams in Dallas. Mavs fans are certainly anxiously, even nervously awaiting for July to come.

One Last Jab at Odom

May 8th, 2012

Mike Dyce

The Mavericks took one last jab at banished teammate who was essentially kicked off the team earlier this year after questions about his commitment. After the Mavs season ended after being swept by Oklahoma City Thunder earlier they were left to split up a playoff bonus of $281,937 for making the playoffs with the 7th best record in the conference. So the 14 Mavs players split it, which equalled $20,138 apiece.

Had Odom been cut in, each player’s share would have been $18,796. Odom’s pro-rated share would have been about $14,000.

If the Odom situation had worked out this could’ve been an entirely different season. The Mavs were expecting to get the 6th Man of the Year, but instead got a player embattled with off-court personal issues hampering his on court focus and performance.

“If the Lamar thing would have worked out and if he would have played like the year before when he was the best sixth man, I think we would have had a shot. It would have given us another playmaker, another guy that’s long, that can defend and rebound” Dirk Nowitzki said.

In hind sight it looks like the Lakers knew what kind of year Lamar was headed towards with his off season issues during the summer and thus explains why they let him go for almost nothing.

Oh, well it was worth a shot. If it worked out we’d be singing Cuban’s praises, but not every move can be a home run.