REMEMBERING VINCE, WITH A TOUCH OF PEPPER
January 13, 2012

We lost a beloved coach and colorful character this week, as Vince Gibson lost his battle with ALS. Kevin Haskin of the Topeka Capital-Journal remembers Vince. I never met Vince, but my friends and I never missed one of his pep rallies, held in Aggieville before each home football game. Because of his leadership we have our football stadium, and unforgettable (and improbable) victories over Oklahoma and Nebraska.

MY TOP 5 K-STATE SPORTS MOMENTS FOR 2011
December 31, 2011

• FEBRUARY 14, MEN'S BASKETBALL
  Jacob Pullen went nuts and laid 38 points on #1 KU, leading to an 84-68 victory. A good time was had by all. Jacob finished his career with 2,132 points, more than any other Cat in history.

• MARCH 2, WOMEN'S BASKETBALL
  Brittany Chambers went nuts and scored 35 on #5 Texas A&M, leading to a 71-67 victory. In April, the Aggies became national champions.

• SEPTEMBER 24, FOOTBALL
  The Cats' goal line stop on Miami in the last minute of the game led to a 28-24 defeat of the Hurricanes, a victory few believed was possible. This provided a level of confidence that paved the way for the Cats' 10-2 season.

• NOVEMBER 19, FOOTBALL
  The Cats defeated Texas in Austin, 17-13, before a crowd of 100,705. This marked the fourth consecutive win over Texas, with the Cats now 6-2 against the Longhorns in the Big 12 era, and 3-1 in Austin.

• DECEMBER 2: VOLLEYBALL
  The Cats defeated #2 Nebraska on their own court in Lincoln, eliminating them from the NCAA tournament, while punching their ticket to the Sweet 16.

COLLEGE FOOTBALL'S FLEECING OF AMERICAN UNIVERSITIES
December 15, 2011

Pete Kotz in the Dallas Observer has written a well-researched and important article. You can see the original or the printer-friendly version.

Kotz points out what I've seen for years. There are so many people with their hands in the cookie jar that only the government or the NCAA will ever straighten out this mess. Lots of schools are suffering a net loss of hundreds of thousands of dollars for the highly-debatable prestige of playing in a bowl game, many of which the average American couldn't name to save their lives.

How are universities being lured into this?

• extra practice days allowed by the NCAA for bowl-bound schools
• free vacations (some even to warmer areas) for administrators, coaches and athletic department employees
• padding the list of all-time bowl game invitations (no matter if the list includes third-tier bowl games)
• bonuses to coaches and administrators if the team earns a bowl invitation
• Everybody's doing it!

This article doesn't address the unfair good-old-boy selection process for the most prestigious bowls; e.g., the Sugar Bowl's snubbing of Kansas State this fall. I don't advocate a playoff system, but I do believe the NCAA could rent stadiums in nice locations and have its own bowl system, guiding a much greater percentage of the bowl jackpots to the universities who play in them.

SAYING FAREWELL TO NUMBER 0
March 5, 2011

Mark Janssen has a must-read interview with Jacob Pullen in today's Kansas State Sports Blog.

BASKETBALL TRAINING FACILITY GROUNDBREAKING
February 26, 2011

Since I live about 150 feet from the groundbreaking site, I moseyed over there to take pictures. The indoor activities were "invitation only," but the dignitaries came outside for five minutes to dig some dirt that had already been plowed. I made a modest little photo gallery.