Posted on June 7, 2010 by thejerseychaser

Mega-conferences & the Notre Dameous effect

We still have a few months before college football starts, but college sports could change as we know it. Four new mega-conferences are expected to emerge including: the Big 10, Pac-10, ACC, and SEC.

These four conferences are already the dominate conferences in college football, winning the most championships and dominating television markets. However their emergence as a mega-conference poses threats to conferences left out like the Big 12 and Big East. Other college football traditionalists are also worried about rivalries becoming extinct with the creation of mega-conferences. Below are the teams rumored to be joining the mega-conferences.

Pac-10: Texas, Texas Tech, Texas A&M & Colorado
Big 10: Nebraska, Missouri, Maryland & Rutgers
SEC : Clemson & Oklahoma
ACC: West Virgina, Pittsburgh, Syracuse & Connecticut

* What is interesting is Notre Dame is not listed as one of the teams who will join a mega-conference. Currently, Notre Dame is independent and does not belong to any particular conference. By being independent, Notre Dame can negotiate exclusive TV contracts, which means big money for the school. However, with the expansion of college football to mega-conferences, Notre Dame remaining independent is not as exclusive as it once was. The Big 10 is desperate to lure over the Fighting Irish, and along with it the Big 10 would get Notre Dame’s $15m contract wit NBC.

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Posted on June 6, 2010 by thejerseychaser

Tiger fans get the wrong Jim Joyce

An Ohio man who shares the same name and home state of the umpire responsible for blowing Galarraga’s prefect game is having a case of mistaken identity. Jim Joyce of Toledo had to disconnect his phone because of angry phone calls from Tiger fans, but they had the wrong guy.

“Everybody was pretty irate quite honestly,” Joyce said, describing the calls. “A lot of them are vulgar things. Some of them were funny about me needing new glasses but then they’d follow it up with vulgarity as well.”
Too bad for this Jim Joyce is a Tigers’ fan!

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Posted on June 4, 2010 by thejerseychaser

Galarraga gets a Corvette after missed call in Perfect Game

Galarraga may have not gotten the perfect game, but he did get a corvette. After seeing Galarraga get robbed of a perfect game, GM’s North American President, Mark Reuss, honored Galarraga with a $53,580 corvette.

Reuss is an acquaintance of Tigers owner Mike Illitch and said, “It’s only fitting we help give back for all the Illitches have done for Detroit and to celebrate Armando’s pitching and sportsmanship during one of the most captivating evenings in Tigers history.”

Reuss is making reference to the Comerica Park Fountain in which GM sponsors. GM had sponsored the fountain since Comerica Park opened in 2001. But during the 2009 season, GM could no longer sponsor the fountain because of the finical woes that hit the auto industry. However, Illitch kept GM’s name on the fountain while adding Chrysler and Ford. GM got to keep the fountain, and Galarraga got a vette.

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Posted on June 4, 2010 by thejerseychaser

Ron Artest giving away NBA courtside NBA finals tickets

Two LA Laker fans got the gift of a lifetime when they were given two court side seats to Game 1 of the NBA Finals…. courtesy of Ron Artest.

According to TMZ, the tickets are valued at $9,000 a piece and were given away on Los Angeles’ Power 106 radio station.

“Most of my fans can’t afford the ticket prices to come to any of the games, let alone the Finals,” Artest told TMZ. “I wanted to treat a fan to something they would normally never have access to, so they could feel like one of the stars for the night. I wanted to be able to share my first Finals experience with one of my regular fans.”
Artest paid for the tickets out of his own pocket, which is pretty generous until you remember he makes $6.6 m a season!

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