A little of this, a little of that

12/8/2008

We have a hodgepodge of topics to attack, some related to BG, some personal to me.

-BG is one of four six-win teams that will not be playing in a bowl game. The others are Arkansas State, Louisiana-Lafayette and San Jose State. An athletic department official told me today that Athletic Director Greg Christopher did not receive any phone calls from bowl organizers and that BG did not decline any invitations, which seemed like a real possibility because the program is currently without a head coach and two coordinators. Even if Christopher had turned down a bowl game, I don t think I could criticize him for it because of these current conditions.

-It s time to reduce the number of bowl games, isn t it? I mean when a 6-6 Northern Illinois team is playing in the post season something is terribly wrong. Give me the top 32 teams making up 16 bowl games and I ll be happy. I mean, would it be that terrible if some decent 7-5 teams stayed home for the holidays? Going bowling shouldn t be a birthright.

-I loathe BCS chatter. It s boring discussion for lazy newspaper columnists and TV talking heads. I have heard the same stale arguments against the BCS for five years, and when one of my buddies brings up the issue I immediately pretend I have to use the restroom or claim to have mistakenly left the lights on in my car. Folks, let s stop it already. Yes, the BCS is flawed, and no I m not opposed to a playoff. But I have a hard time siding with the BCS haters when I get to watch a superb national title game between Oklahoma and Florida, who in my opinion, are the two best teams in the country. The BCS is far from great but further from horrible.

-And for you Utah and Boise State apologists, do you really think that either of those teams would survive in an eight-team playoff with the likes of Oklahoma, Florida, Texas and USC? Not a chance. I love the little guy as much as anyone, but no non BCS teams have the reservoir of talent to win four straight games against the nation s best. It s just not plausible.

-BG sophomore forward Chris Knight has played a total of 44 minutes this year and logged less than a minute in BG s loss to Illinois State on Saturday. I will tell you why this is

in Tuesday s Blade. Sorry for being a tease.

-I see nothing wrong with assistant coaches Mike Ward and Matt Campbell taking positions at Toledo. Sure, it s a little weird and you don t want to see it if you re a BG fan or player, but these guys have mouths to feed and mortgages to pay. I absolutely get that. Had they taken any other job they would have had to sell their houses in BG, and let s face it, that ain t happening in this economy. Heck, Dan Dakich still has a home on Stone Ridge he s trying to get rid of. I believe Jim Hofher rented it from Dakich this year. Good move by Hofher to not buy it. So who is to blame for Ward and Campbell bolting for the rival? Is it them for sleeping with the enemy? Is it Christopher for not guaranteeing them positions under the yet-to-be named coach? I say neither. No one is to blame here. It stinks but it happens.

-The BG women have now won six straight by an average of almost 27 points. Sure, they re beating up on bad teams, but the Falcons should be very, very good when the calendar flips to 2009 (if they re not already very, very good). Sophomore point guard Tracy Pontius has been excellent and will only get better. Her game is very dissimilar to Kate Achter s, but that s not necessarily a negative. Achter was an unbelievable driver; Pontius could prove to be an unbelievable 3-point shooter. Very different styles.

-There s a chance this may be my final blog post. The Blade is laying off 15 full and part-time employees on Wednesday, using seniority to decide who stays and who goes. Well, I haven t been full-time for all that long, so yeah. Anyway, I don t want to air any of the company s dirty laundry, so you can just read this story I pulled from editorandpublisher.com.

NEW YORK Two people have been let go, and more cuts are on the way at the Toledo Blade this week, according to TV reports in the Ohio city.

According to the WTVG site, "So far two people have been let go, and a spokesperson for the paper says more cuts are on the way in the near future.

"The company's spokesperson, Luann Sharp, declined an on-camera interview with us, but she did confirm two management personnel were laid off on Friday. Now a 13abc source reveals workers received a memo Friday regarding layoffs of 15 full and part-time employees.

"Our source also states those cuts likely include reporters, assistants, librarians, and low-level editors. We asked the Blade's spokeswoman about that, but she would not confirm those specifics. Sharp says because of the bad economy there will be more layoffs, but declined to release any further details until they meet with union leaders.

"The Blade says a meeting with unions regarding layoffs must happen within two weeks. One union leader we talked with late this afternoon says that meeting will be held on Wednesday."