* Notable World Series change starting next season: Home field advantage will be decided by best regular-season record instead of the winner of the All-Star game. The latter was a dumb gimmick–thought up by former Commissioner Bud Selig–to gin up interest in a mid-season exhibition game. Had it been in force this year, the Chicago Cubs would have been in Wrigley for the climatic final two games.
*Speaking of the Cubs, Donald Trump’s choice for deputy commerce secretary is Todd Ricketts. He’s a Cubs co-owner. He became a significant fund-raiser for Donald Trump after supporting Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker during the early Republican primaries. BTW, before the Ricketts family–most notably Ameritrade founder and family patriarch Joe Ricketts–bought the Cubs in 2009, the franchise was valued at approximately a third of what it’s worth today: $2.2 billion.
* Here are a couple of rules of thumb that should apply to college football. If a team doesn’t have a winning record, it doesn’t go to a bowl game, which used to mean a “reward” for a good season as much as it meant some economic impact for chambers of commerce to brag about. Second, a team–unless it’s an independent–should have to win its conference in order to qualify for the Final Four to determine the national champion.
This year’s 38 bowl games–too many by more than half–feature, as it were, 20 teams with non-winning records. The St. Petersburg Bowl is a prime example of post-season inflation. Miami of Ohio (6-6) takes on Mississippi State (5-7), if anyone, including those in Oxford, Ohio and Starkville, Mississippi cares.
As for that Final Four, it will be SEC winner Alabama, ACC winner Clemson, Pac-12 winner Washington and Big 10 non-winner Ohio State. One of those is not like the others. Leave it at that.
No, I can’t. Leave it that it should have been Big 10 winner Penn State, who actually beat Ohio State, making the Final Four–instead of the Final Five.
* “I make far more than I’m worth, I can assure you of that.” That was the candid acknowledgement of Kansas State head football coach Bill Snyder–in the context of decrying that college football has “sold out” to big-money TV deals and bemoaning the hypocrisy of caring about student-athlete “welfare.” Snyder, 77, makes $3.1 million annually, and reportedly has shown no signs of giving lots of it back to help underwrite more relevant higher-ed priorities.