Wide right better path for Irene

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Wide right better path for Irene

Sports

Friday, 26 August 2011 11:27

Ken Jackson
Sports Writer

To borrow a bit from Dexy’s Midnight Runners greatest (and only) hit ...
Come on Irene, to the right you must lean, at this moment ... and miss evvv’rything ...

It’d be great if Mother Nature kept doing her best 1990s FSU place-kicker impression. I’ve got a bunch of people in the Northeast who do blizzards, not hurricanes. They’ll walk right past the ice and batteries at the store and buy milk, eggs and bread. And toilet paper.
Since we here were hunker-free this week (yeah, sorry about that, Bahamas), we weren’t huddle-free — unless any of our teams are running no-huddle offenses. If they are, at least they got to display them on the field.
Kickoff Classics got bumped up a day or two in some cases, but they got in, and that’s the point. When May spring games got cut short by lightning, teams like Gateway, St. Cloud and Poinciana faced the prospect of going into the 2011 opener with less than 20 preseason snaps to prepare.
Gateway has a different quarterback. Poinciana, St. Cloud and Harmony have new coaches. Those dress rehearsals didn’t count in the standings, but they were meaningful to young players.
County teams now have about three regular season games to prepare for the district games that will measure their playoff worthiness.
So, it was important for our teams to try to look good early on. And if they’re in a good mood this weekend, they can go buy eggs, bread and milk — and make French toast.
ooo
Who’s not in a good mood, no matter how the Kickoff Classics went? Anybody connected to “The U”. The NCAA’s suits and paper-shufflers are all up in Miami’s business, upholding their rules, bylaws and standards in light of one annoying convict with an axe to grind.
They will do a good job. Because the NCAA is our best tool for preserving the amateur status of college athletes.
If they play baseball, tennis or golf.
Miami tattletale/booster/wannabe Devin Shapiro may have proved that college football and basketball are professional sports. The NCAA can huff and puff at that all it wants — until it’s time to cash those huge TV checks.
The top few dozen college football programs are not long for a world run by the NCAA — I’ve been saying this for years. I just haven’t thought about it much.
But Marc Daniels, who co-hosts the local morning show on ESPN 1080-AM, obviously has. On his show’s website he drew up plans for the American College Football League, what he envisions as a 32-team (give or take a few) league of the most recognizable programs.
Instead of the status quo of teams routinely bending the rules, then trying to avoid the NCAA investigators spending millions to catch them, Daniels proposes a system allowing them to play among guidelines that address the needs of its players and schools.
Read it. He’s on to something. Schools would apply and be reviewed on basis of things like market size, history of program, fan support, recent on-field success, revenue potential and name recognition. Teams must spend between $10 to 30 million in operating costs, and they may seek their own sponsors beyond those the league signs.
All ACFL players would be eligible for compensation, based on class standing and academic advancement. Players could enhance their “salary” through endorsements, merchandise revenue and bonuses if their team advances in the postseason.
Oh yeah, there’s a playoff system in the ACFL.
A team’s base “payroll” would be under $1 million based on a 70-player maximum with no class having more than 20. A marketable quarterback could easily make six figures.
Daniels, on his show, said that a plan for the American College Basketball League is forthcoming.
Quick, somebody tell the Hurricanes that they can listen to Daniels’ show online.