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You’ve got questions. I have some thoughts on them. Let’s dive right into a few sports issues which may be on your mind this week, too.
Q1: Should Ohio State fire football coach Ryan Day after losing again to Michigan?
I’ve joked for years that Ryan Day looks (to me) like a modern day Bluto from the Popeye cartoons.
His arrogance as a coach makes most non-Buckeye fans want to root against Ohio State.
Ohio State fans wouldn’t care about Bluto’s public relations issues as long as his team could beat arch-rival Michigan every other year. The latest loss (4th in a row) came last Saturday during a home game in which 10-1 Ohio State was a 20-point favorite against a mediocre 6-5 Michigan squad.
Ohio State lost Saturday’s game 13-10 and dropped to 10-2. The Buckeyes will now sit at home to watch 11-1 Penn State take on 12-0 Oregon this Saturday in the Big Ten Championship game.
For the fourth straight year, Michigan controlled the clock with their traditional plodding running game and kept the score low. Though Ohio State spent a reported $20 million of NIL cash on importing new players in an attempt to win the national championship this year, the team’s coach and players failed to deliver the victory.
Again.
Ohio State has won a lot of games with Ryan Day as the head coach. After taking over for Urban Meyer in 2019, Day’s Buckeyes have posted a 66-10 record. Despite winning 87% of the games he has coached in Columbus, Ryan Day’s Ohio State teams have lost four straight to Michigan.
For those of us in the South, it would be the equivalent of Alabama losing four straight games to arch-rival Auburn.
The fifth-highest paid college football coach in the country ($10 million in 2024), Ryan Day would be owed more than $37 million if he should be fired after this season.
Buckeyes fans are ready to pass the hat and get rid of Ryan Day. Much like Texas A&M’s vanquished (but filthy rich) former coach Jimbo Fisher, Ryan Day’s dour personality overshadows his won/loss record with Ohio State fans.
Anything less than getting Ohio State into the College Football Playoff national title game in January will seal his doom.
Q2: Why did Fox Sports pay $37 ½ million per year for Tom Brady-the-broadcaster?
In one of the smartest financial sports TV deals ever, Tom Brady’s agent secured a 10-year $375 million contract for the legendary quarterback to work as an analyst at Fox Sports. Brady had never worked in the broadcast booth before signing the deal.
As the rookie season behind the microphone for Brady comes down the stretch, those high expectations have not been met.
Most fans expected TB12 to make incredible observations (like Fox’ former top analyst Greg Olsen) and give predictions of upcoming plays like CBS analyst Tony Romo. The former Dallas Cowboys quarterback earns $18 million/year. Romo brings good enthusiasm to the booth but has been inconsistent in his game analysis from week to week.
Former Carolina Panthers’ tight end Greg Olsen was the #1 analyst at Fox last year and was paid $10 million. With Brady taking his place as the top dog, the network reduced the talented Olsen’s salary to “only” $3 million.
Tom Brady was paid the big bucks to be better than those two guys.
He isn’t.
I believe that Brady will be shipped back to the studio to replace one of the older Fox Sports legends (Terry Bradshaw, Jimmy Johnson, Michael Strahan, or Howie Long).
Brady’s smile and good looks will serve him better behind the studio desk instead being a faceless (and vastly overpaid) analyst at the games.
I’ll give Tom Brady’s time in the booth (at best) one more season. Greg Olsen is still much better at his new post-football job than the legendary Tom Brady.
Hang in there, Greg!
Q3: How should the NCAA end the juvenile stunt of “Flag Planting” by college football road teams?
In case you missed it last weekend, several road teams celebrated their wins on the home field of a rival school by attempting to plant their school’s flag at midfield. Of course, the home team’s players jumped in to defend their home field and team’s honor. The punches started flying during these embarrassing stunts.
It started with Saturday’s early game as visiting Michigan surprised 20-point home favorite Ohio State. Word quickly spread on social media about the post-game rumble in Columbus.
Later games on Saturday at North Carolina and Florida State (among others) featured similar childish post-game stunts after the visiting teams won games on the home team’s field.
The Big Ten Conference fined both Michigan and Ohio State $100,000 for their nationally-televised post-game rumble. Will the money be used to repair the Ohio State football field? If not, where will it go?
To his credit, Florida Gators football coach Billy Napier immediately apologized to Florida State’s coach Mike Norvell for his team’s juvenile celebration on the Seminoles’ home field. He also promised to discipline (perhaps get rid of) any Florida players who were involved.
In event that the NCAA is reading this, the answer is simple.
The offending visiting team should be required to forfeit their win.
Though it might sound harsh, that mandate would immediately stop these junior-high level stunts from happening in the future.
Q4: Why are the NBA and NHL playing games during October, November, and December?
The obvious answer is that they must generate enough revenue to offset the high costs of their players and team overhead.
Incredibly, the home attendance at NBA and NHL games during the fall football season has been fairly strong.
Most National Basketball Association teams are averaging close to a sell-out for their home games this fall. The National Hockey League has reported that 62% of the league’s games have been sellouts (compared to 57% in fall 2023).
The television ratings for the NBA show a big slippage this season. ESPN (another story for another time) has shown a 28% drop in NBA viewership this fall. Most games fail to garner more than 1.5 million viewers (about 10% of an NFL game).
TNT (in its final year handling the NBA) is running slightly below 2023’s numbers.
The NHL’s fall television ratings have struggled to break 500,000 home viewers per game.
We will get a better handle on trends in television ratings once the NFL’s regular season ends in early January.
From a team revenue standpoint, the decline in television viewing for these two winter sports doesn’t really matter. Their TV media partners are stuck and must pay their contractual fees.
The NBA recently secured lucrative new media deals for another ten years. The NHL is locked-in to their current TV contracts through the 2027/2028 season.
If the local fans stop buying season tickets, that is when NBA and NHL franchises will start to feel significant financial pain.
Q5: Is this year’s NFL title chase already down to just four or five teams?
There are 32 teams in the NFL. With a little more than one month to go in the season, the majority of teams’ post-season chances are down to slim or none.
Through last weekend’s games, the AFC’s Kansas City Chiefs (11-1) and Buffalo Bills (10-2) look to be the top teams in that conference.
Though Pittsburgh (now 9-3) has surprised many of us Terrible Towel waving fans, the Steelers’ offense remains inconsistent. The Baltimore Ravens are 8-5 and still have time to get on a roll during the final weeks of the season.
The 8-4 LA Chargers, 8-5 Houston Texans and 8-5 Denver Broncos still have a slim chance at winning the AFC. That leaves the other nine AFC teams looking at next year – again.
The NFC is even more straightforward.
The Detroit Lions are 11-1 with the Philadelphia Eagles and Minnesota Vikings right behind at 10-2.
Green Bay is hanging around at 9-3. The Washington Commanders are a surprising 8-5, and Seattle is leading the NFC West at a meager 7-5.
The other ten NFC teams are at or below .500 right now. Don’t look for any of them to be a significant factor by playoff time.
As usual, the AFC and NFC teams holding the top two seeds will have a significant home field advantage during January’s playoff games.
I’m still sticking with my pre-season prediction that the Kansas City Chiefs will NOT win the Super Bowl for the third straight year.
All good things must come to an end.