BLOG BLAST
“I never want to hear anyone call the Bidwills cheap again.”
— Dan Benton on AOL’s NFL FanHouse, writing about Levi Brown’s $62 million contract with Arizona
TODAY’S BEST ON TV
Art Monk fans, cover your eyes. Michael Irvin joins the Pro Football Hall of Fame (6 p.m., ESPN) along with contemporaries Bruce Matthews and Thurman Thomas.
TWT FIVE 2008 PRO FOOTBALL HALL OF FAME CANDIDATES
1. Darrell Green — Longtime Redskins great should enter the Hall on his first try.
2. Art Monk — Will justice finally be served with a Redskins double-dip?
3. Cris Carter — Ah, but here comes another receiver to steal Monk’s votes after breaking his records.
4. Paul Tagliabue — A finalist last year, the former commish deserves enshrinement.
5. Herman Moore — Another test for the voters. Had great five-year run with Lions (487 catches, 6,431 yards, 47 TDs from 1994 to 1998), but then flamed out.
COLLEGE FOOTBALL ONLINE EXCERPT FROM D1SCOURSE, OUR COLLEGES BLOG AT WASHINGTONTIMES.COM
When ACC commissioner John Swofford addressed reporters last week, he mentioned how the NCAA had done away with the Division I-A and Division I-AA designations.
Then he paused a moment to remember exactly what the new names were, before politely asking the assembled media to pick up on the updated terminology he hadn’t entirely grasped yet.
Groovy, man.
Welcome to the NCAA’s latest self-created situation that only will wind up being a greater nuisance — the era of the “Football Bowl Subdivision” and the “Football Championship Division.”
There was no obvious reason to change the appellations other than to remind folks the big boys don’t have a playoff system. Is “I-AA” a denigration to quality teams in the Big Sky? An awkward new name isn’t going to enhance the quality of play or respect for recent I-AA champions Appalachian State, James Madison and Delaware.
From a strictly media point of view, there are three options to handle this:
1. Stick with the old, familiar terminology and technically be wrong all the time.
2. Wholeheartedly embrace the new monikers at the risk of utter confusion for readers who haven’t heard of the inane name changes.
3. Use the new terms but also refer to either division as “the former Division I-A or I-AA,” thus cluttering something that was expressed in far more elegant terms in the past.
Guess it’s time to start thinking about Football Bowl Subdivision member Maryland’s season opener against longtime Football Championship Subdivision member Villanova on Sept. 1.
— Patrick Stevens
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