Behold My Peeps

You know being that I do go to church when I'm actually in town on a Sunday and don't have a game (an increasingly rare occurrence these days), I'm kind of an Easter fan. I remember getting a new goalie stick one Easter that was a complete shock. I remember getting a chocolate bunny in a New York Mets jersey (I could only eat the ears) and I remember the year my birthday fell on Easter, and we celebrated with a big cookout with my friends.

But nowadays....I don't look forward to Easter. Sure, I could say it was because my 14-year old got Easter Egg dye all over the counter and had to bleach it out (and no I wasn't home for this), or it could be because I'm not a fan of Cadbury Eggs. But no, I hate Easter because of one thing...Peeps. Yes, those peeps up there in the photo... those disgusting, ugly, heinous things that pass as Easter goodness. Why do those things get resurrected every April? I have had a weird aversion to them since I was a kid...I hate them...look at them...they are so creepy. This borders on how much I get sick at the sight of a bowl of cereal with milk (wifey handled the breakfast for the kids, thanks).

Anyways...people, especially my family, know I hate those things....so what did I find on my desk this morning? Peeps. In my phone (not on....in)? Peeps. On my computer? Peeps. In my drawer? Peeps. I'm scared to go to the bathroom right now. How can I thank for this besides my daughter? Well...Jeff Tingey signed the giant poster that they also left in my office, so I think I know my daughter's accomplice. I do enjoy working here! OK, onto some real stuff.

Tournament Expansion
I'm guessing that Brad might touch on this more, but this whole tournament expending to 96 teams looks like a done deal, and it's sparking plenty of debate. ESPN's Dana O'Neill has a great piece on why it's a monumentally stupid idea. There's plenty of arguments either way, but before I get to the one I want to talk about (which NO ONE IS MENTIONING), let's talk about why this is going to happen.

Money.

See, that was easy, wasn't it? Now, far be it from me to give the NCAA grief about expanding the tournament and maybe opting out of their mega-billion dollar contract with CBS during a massive recession, but let's look at how this will absolutely murder the smaller school conference such as say, oh , I don't know....the Big Sky.

Right now, there are 65 teams in the tournament, and 64 games, but the NCAA grants what they call a unit to 63 games, as the two play-in game winners don't receive a unit for that game, only for winning and advancing into the field of 64. Never mind that the play-in game contains two teams that automatically earned entry into the tournament field and the play-in game should have the final two at-large teams trying to play their way into the tournament (and yes Utah State, I'm looking at you).

Anyways, a unit is defined as a game, and a unit carries over for six years, so let's take this year. Montana played in one game, and was credited with one unit (well, the Big Sky gets it). The Big Sky has six units from one team in the tournament for the past six years, plus we are still getting a unit because of Montana's win a few years back over Nevada, so we have seven units. Each unit gets assigned a dollar amount based on the NCAA Tournament (last figure I saw was $152,000 per year, so one unit equals about $912,000 over the course of six years. That money is divided equally among the conference teams usually (it is in the Big Sky).

Now let's look at the Big Ten. They had Ohio State, Michigan State, Minnesota, Purdue, and Wisconsin all make it, so that's five units. But Michigan State played in four games and will play in five, Purdue three, Ohio State three, Wisconisn two and Minnesota one. The Big Ten actually gets credited with 14 units this year. that's $2,1 million kids....or 13 times more than what the Big Sky got (Michigan State can get to six units, but not seven...there is no bonus unit for winning the title).

Now...let's say the tournament expands to 96. How are we paying this out? Even though the contract is bigger, the payments per unit might be slightly smaller per unit since there are more units (96 instead of 64). Now, this doesn't affect the big conferences, because they will be the leagues supplying most of the teams to get the field to 96. ESPN's Joe Lunardi said that if the tournament this year was a field of 96, 13 Big East teams would make the tournament. What's funny is like two years ago only 12 teams qualified for the Big East Tournament. Brilliant.

So a league now like the Big Ten...instead of getting 14 units this year, might get 17 or 19 units...and how do you ignore the units for the 32 teams with a first round bye? You have to pay them, otherwise teams will prefer to be a 9-seed, kick some 24-seeds butt, and get the payout for the conference while the 8-seed sits on their thumbs.

But all of that...that's not my argument to why this is dumb. My argument is because you are fundamentally changing the tournament, and making it SO MUCH TOUGHER for the bigger schools. You don't believe me? Let's look at Montana from this past year.

The Grizzlies were a 14 seed. Now, people keep assuming that when you add these other 32 teams (31...forgot the playin fiasco), that they will be the bottom 32 teams...but there is no way that will happen. Those 32 teams will push the 14, 15, and 16 seeds currently all the way down to the 22nd, 23rd, and 24th seeds. So Montana, instead of opening against #3 New Mexico, will get to play the #11 seed instead, who would be one of the first teams out (probably a Dayton or Rhode Island or Illinois). Then the winner of that game will face off against the #6 seed, say Notre Dame. Seems a little easier for the #22 seed than the old way as the #14 seed, no?

But what about the #1 seed....Duke. How much tougher is it for the Blue Devils. Well, they get a bye, but that's not Arkansas-Pine Bluff or Winthrop waiting for them as the #16 seed, because they are now the #24 seed and getting eliminated by the #9 seed. Now, Duke now gets the winner of the #16/#17 game, probably a team like Memphis or South Florida. Not quite the same as Arkansas-Pine Bluff, but hey, they are only playing once that first weekend anyways.

And yes, they are going to have the same opening weekend, meaning the first Thursday and Friday are 16 games, and Saturday and Sunday are 16 games. then the second round will start on Tuesday, meaning teams will play Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday or Wednesday, Friday, Sunday. Say you are the #9 seed like Northern Iowa...here's a potential schedule.

Tues., March 16, travel to first round site
Wed., March 17, practice day at opening rounds site
Thurs., March 18, Opening Round game (#9 vs. #24)
Fri., March 19, practice day at opening rounds site
Sat., March 20, Round of 64 game (#9 vs. #8), fly back home late after the game to Cedar Rapids, do laundry in a hurry
Sun., March 21, Fly to Second week site
Mon., March 22, practice day at second week site
Tues., March 23, Round of 32 game (#9 vs. #1) .. think UNI beats Kansas with this schedule? Let's say they do....
Wed., March 24, practice day at second week site
Thurs., March 25, Sweet 16 game (who knows who they are playing at this point)
Fri., March 26, practice day at second week site
Sat., March 27, Elite 8 game
Sun., March 28, Fly home

Now, is the NCAA serious? Really? This is your schedule for STUDENT-ATHLETES. And you still want to hold schools to an APR standard?

Other arguments I've heard is that it will help coaches keep jobs, which I don't think will happen...I think more coaches will lose jobs (AD to coach: You couldn't make it in a 96 team field? Really?)

Also...Um...Mr. NCAA...the ladies would like to know about their tournament. You know, the whole gender equity thing. The NCAA has said it's not about money, but that many of their tournaments have expanded, and the men's tournament doesn't have a solid enough percentage of teams making the postseason tournament. Well guess what...the women have the same amount of teams, so I guess you better expand theirs too, or someone somewhere will have themselves the world's easiest lawsuit to win.

Or they could keep the greatest tournament in America the way it is. What do I know...

Football Might Not Practice Today....
John Zamberlin just came down to inform me that due to the expected weather, they might cancel practice. Watch the main site for that information.

Speaking of football, Channel 6 has a new sports anchor in Matt Gittins, and if you go here and click on the 3/30/10 sportscast, you can see him and his first report on Bengal football. I honestly hadn't watched any local news lately since I've been catching up on my DVR stuff (LOST/FlashForward/V/Survivor/The Office/Family Guy/The Marriage Ref ... I've been gone, can you tell?), but he's pretty good...I think you guys will like him. Scott Bemis and Alyssa Chin had a pair of stories with Coach Z previewing spring ball, and a nice piece on Phil Earley.

Heck, even I tried a rudimentary hand at a video report.

And of course, you can keep up with Kelvin Ang and his spring practice musings, as he is at all the practices.

This blog was a long one, but everyone enjoy your Easter! Softball and track and tennis all have events so watch the main page for the information...and do not send me any more Peeps...seriously, I have enough here.

----Frank

Office Closed

If all seems quiet on the media relations front in the next few days ... that's because it's going to be pretty quiet around here. Our entire office will be working the Spokane Regional from Thursday through next Sunday, with a full days drive there on Wednesday and back on Monday. The only event going on this weekend is a women's golf tournament....that's it. No softball, no tennis, no track ... no nothing. Weird, right?

There will be some football popping up this week though. I'm waiting for the official eights and weights from the Pro Day stuff that goes on today (I just found out about that one). That is going on at Holt Arena from 11:30 (the guys who are done with their eligibility), and then upcoming seniors at 2:30, and everyone else around 3:30ish or so. Mark Campbell takes the weights and heights at that event and will get those to me, and then I can have the prospectus finalized. That reminds me...last year I got a bound prospectus from Oklahoma....bound. Full color cover. Money is great, isn't it? This year by the way Oklahoma's spring guide is 100 pages....100 pages? ISU's 2001 media guide for the fall season...i.e. the one that counts, was only 96 pages.

Now onto a bunch of things around the office/school/department you folks might find interesting..

Football Team Collects Food for the Idaho Food Bank
Nice job by Wes Horrocks of Channel 3 covering the proceedings here. Not sure why they went with the orange jerseys though.

Thankfully Southern Utah's Quarterback Won't be the One Going Off This Time
Back in 2000, South Utah quarterback Matt Cannon led the Southern Utah Thunderbirds with three rushing touchdowns and 1,153 yards rushing. Well, not really, it only seemed like it...it was actually 262 yards, and it still is the record for the most yards by a visiting player, as SUU beat ISU 62-24 (on Homecoming....uugh).

Now, a much different cannon is being talked about....one that actually goes boom. It's been pretty funny from my end, because a fan is putting all of this together, and sinking some $$ into it (I'll get him a Bengal Foundation membership for all of this at the very least), but some folks seem to be against it, harping on that you can't shoot a cannon in the dome. Really? They have fireworks during concerts in here, and a cannon will not be any louder than the freakin' Monster Trucks that rev themselves up outside of my office that forces me to go home early. It's not shooting a real cannonball, it's just powder...it will be fine, really. And yes, the man doing this (who by the way is in the Army, so yes, he knows of what he speaks) has talked to the folks needed, including the guy who runs the building, who is all for it. So, we got the building folks to OK it, the team OK'ed it, and the players OK'ed it. Be warned...we might very well have a cannon shooting at home games.

LOST Video Contest
Some folks might wonder "What does Frank Mercogliano do on a Sunday in his downtime?" Well, I make contest entries for LOST. If I get in the top 10, I'm coming back here begging for votes, because I want that van. If I don't make the top 10 I'll post the thing on Youtube anyways....

If you haven't been watching the greatest show on television....you don't even have to miss the NCAA Tournament, because it is on Tuesdays. Just go to Hulu.com, and catch up on the first five seasons, and you can be caught up in five weeks.

Charlotte's Web
Let me tell you a little story. Sit down...please...get a brownie or some chips. Back in 1998 when I came to Idaho State, the ISU athletic website sucked. It was HORRID. I had never done anything with the internet or a website ever, and so it continued to suck for a few months. It really was bad. Well, in the fall of 1998, a friend of mine named Ray Emery helped me revamp it so that we had a way to update it, get stats and news and rosters and stuff on there, and it was serviceable. Here is what it looked like back fall of 1999 (look at how cute the football page was back then), here is it in December of 2000, and in October of 2001, and the last incarnation of to old www.isu.edu/athletic site, the day before we switched to www.isubengals.com.

Flash forward to 2002, and ISU unveiled www.isubengals.com, which actually debuted on August 9, 2002, and it now more note worthy because I had a goatee at the time. At the time, we were ahead of the pack in terms of a website, it was clean, fast, organized, and everyone in Bengalville was happy, and kudos went to Howard Gauthier, who was the A.D. and agreed to spend the money and make the switch.

Well, it's 2010, and we have had the exact same website for the last eight years, and while I will still say it's totally function, we have no bells and whistles, and we are trying to keep up with the Joneses while trapped in the sites mandated design (case in point, there is NOTHING but white space on the right side of the page, and the videos we post are just sort of crammed into the page).

Now, we can fix that, but it would cost money. Eventually the question becomes this...do you keep adding and fixing, or do you just start over? Do you keep fixing your car, which is functional and runs, but can't maybe do everything you want, or do you just go down to Meador's and get a new car? Well, we are approaching the new car portion of the discussion.

We are looking at potentially switching our website for a radical redesign, very possibly with a new company. CBS College Sports, formerly CSTV, formerly Fans Only, formerly something else I can't remember, is getting a bit cost prohibitive, and so we are looking at a different company possibly, that handles and caters to more schools our size (view Montana State's website for an example).

So this is where you guys come in....what do YOU want in a website? There are things Katie, Jamie and I definitely want (more dedicated spots for video, facebook and twitter links in a better format, and a better layout graphically), but if you have any comments or suggestions on what you want to see on a website (be reasonable), email me at mercfran@isu.edu. If the cannon thing is any indication...yes, we listen to folks down here. We may not do it, we may not agree, but no idea is too dumb to be listened too, as Mr. Garrison was so nice to point out a few years ago.

Former Bengals in the Tourney
Amazingly enough, two former ISU Bengals are both in the NCAA Tournament. Paul Bubb, now the Sr. Associate Athletic Director at Murray State, will no doubt accompany the Racers to San Jose as the #13 MSU Racers take on #4 Vanderbilt, and Russ Eisenstein had possibly the best call of the day on Saturday (it's the inside the second video clip here...nice to have that in-house TV production eh?) as his Ohip Bobcats shook off an 7-9 conference record, and a #9 seed in the conference tournament to earn a 14-seed and head to Providence, RI to face off with the #33 Georgetown Hoyas. Dance boys, dance....