The Biz

The NCAA is in preliminary discussions exploring the value of expanding the men’s basketball tournament field and possibly moving the NCAA Tournament from broadcast to cable, Sports Business Journal reported Monday.

The report points toward the NCAA’s escape clause in it’s 11-year, $6 billion deal with CBS as a possible reason in the NCAA’s thinking. CBS has broadcast the NCAA Tournament since 1982, but the NCAA can opt out of the contract at the close of the 2010 Final Four.

One possibility has the tournament expanding from its current field of 65 teams to 96 teams, adding another week to March Madness. In that scenario, the top 32 teams would receive byes.

According to the report, the NCAA believes a move to cable would increase its revenue. In a similar move last year, ESPN signed a four-year, $495 million deal to broadcast the five college football BCS bowls, a 50 percent increase in its rights fee.

Bud Selig is making some changes outside the chalk lines in Major League Baseball — and, no, it has nothing to do with instant replay.

But it does have to do with a different glaring error seen in the postseason system. The Associated Press reported that Selig discussed the possibility Wednesday of shortening the playoff schedule.

Angels manager Mike Scioscia — among others through the years — complained about the time it took to play so few games this fall. In fact, as it turned out, teams had handfuls more days off during their last few weeks of playing than they did the entire second half of the season or, in some cases, the entire year.

When you play such a long season that already ends around Halloween, being able to have the option to speed things up would be a huge step forward. What the lengthy timeline does now is put games in danger when there are nasty forecasts that include temperature below freezing and the possibility of freezing rain, snow or worse. That’s a recipe for an even longer season.

Selig said he’s still working on changes but was quoted as saying, “We’re going to change it.”

Bud doesn’t make moves often, but when he says he’s going to do something, he follows through.

And you thought the revolving door for NBA and NFL coaches was amusing?

Since the San Diego Padres fired general manager Kevin Towers and hired former Boston Red Sox assistant general manager Jed Hoyer, things are looking like they might just flip-flop in interesting fashion.

First off, Towers is a good GM who could do a lot of good for a lot of clubs. I think Jeff Moorad, the owner of the Padres, was looking for some more immediate results and a bit of hustle in terms of player development. Towers was well on his way of getting the most out of the Friars’ farm system, but may have just been running out of time.

San Diego, at times this season, was just plain awful. They weren’t winning games and when Jake Peavy went down with an injury, there simply was no reason for fans to come to the ballpark. Towers then pulled off a monumental trade for Peavy and, though it took some time, the Padres got back on the winning track.

By the end of the season, the starting lineup was drastically different from that on opening day and the starting rotation had undergone a serious makeover, as well. And much of this has to do with the dealings of Towers.

At any rate, it’s hard to argue with the success of the Red Sox front office system and their farm clubs, either. And Hoyer is known for his player development (maybe that’s why his first move was to fire Grady Fuson, the franchise’s vice president of scouting and player development). Expect Hoyer to get most out of the fruitful young players the Padres should have in their lineup to start the year.

On the other side of things, it’s rumored that Towers could be next in line for … Hoyer’s job back in Boston. Ironically, the Boston GM — Theo Epstein — is a graduate of the University of San Diego School of Law and is a former member of the Padres’ PR department and the former director of operations for the club. Ah, how the tables have turned.

You don’t typically like to see a young gun swooping in to take the place of an established front office man in baseball. But in this case, it looks like it could be the best for both worlds. The Padres have a guy with great experience with a successful club in Jed Hoyer, while some other team (maybe the Red Sox, maybe not) surely will have success with Kevin Towers on their staff.

Questionable meth-ods
An athlete … with a drug problem?! No way.

So Andre Agassi did a little crystal meth back in the day. You think he’s the only one? We’ve condemned professional athletes for far more petty things and far worse and, no doubt, his story will not be the last. He’s clearly rebounded and deserves praise for writing a tell-all book that takes a closer look at himself than outing other professionals, as so many other athletes have been apt to do lately.

The issue I have with the meth scenario is not that Agassi did it, but that the ATP practically turned a blind eye to his failed drug test in 1997. After questioning him, Agassi told a bogus story and the ATP basically said, “Oh, OK. Whatever you say, Mr. Agassi. So sorry to bother you,” and went on with their business.

Sure, Agassi was a significant figure in the tennis world but how about a little checks and balances here? If Derek Jeter fails a drug test and the commissioner’s office inquires and Jeter just winks at Bud Selig and whispers, “Don’t worry ‘bout it,” is Bud just going to turn and walk right out the door? I hope not. The issue should be with the way the ATP handled Agassi’s problems, not the way Agassi did.

Hot diggity dog

What, in a city with hot dog vendors on every street corner, a quarterback can’t have a dog? Give Mark Sanchez a break. So the guy ate a hot dog on the sidelines during a game. Big deal. The game was practically over, he was doing it discretely — not rubbing it in the opponent’s face — on the bench and the poor guy was hungry!

Like he said in an apology, he had an upset stomach and hadn’t eaten in a while. And on a full stomach in the middle of a football game, I’d rather put something of substance in my stomach than food that looks like you’d use it to hold bricks together.

Taiwan or tai-lose?

Tigers reliever Fu-Te Ni had to deal with a bit more than jet lag on his return visit to his home country of Taiwan this week.

The Taiwanese government has issued its own Mitchell Report of sorts, outing as many as eight players in the Chinese Professional Baseball League suspected of throwing games.

Ni was not included in the report but did acknowledge that it’s an ongoing issue in the league.

To me, being in a league littered with players throwing games (especially pitchers) is more damaging than players on steroids. At least with ‘roids, you have athletes who are using an advantage — albeit, an unfair one — to enhance their performance. I’d have a much easier time looking down the bench and seeing my teammates shooting up HGH knowing they were in it to win than watching my pitcher throw away ballgames for a little cash.

For ages, it’s been the perception that football in places like Texas supersedes everything. Of course, that’s typically not the case.

But in the Melvindale-Northern Allen Park Public School District, signs point to that holding true.

The school board for the district, in a suburb outside Detroit, has opted to retain head coach Phil Howard for the rest of the season after one of his assistants circulated a flyer that allegedly attributed racially charged comments — including two uses of the n-word — to an opposing coach for a Week 8 regular season game.

The opposing coach denied making any such comments and his school district has defended him.

The Melvindale assistant coach has since been fired. Howard has not. The catch? The assistant coach is Howard’s brother, Denny. Are you telling me this head coach gets a pass because he didn’t put together the memo himself and didn’t personally pass it out? It’s his staff, his brother!

A head coach needs to take responsibility for the actions of the individuals he brings onto his staff. If this were going to be an issue, Denny Howard never should have been allowed in the locker room with those teenagers in the first place.

Bulletin board material is one thing. Racial slurs are another, especially when it appears there’s no reasonable evidence to support Denny Howard’s theory that the comments were actually made.

And could this possibly have something to do with the fact that his team is 9-0 and his players infiltrated Monday’s school board meeting, threw down their jerseys and said they wouldn’t participate in this week’s state playoffs if the coach was fired? Sounds to me like the school board is setting priorities here.

It shouldn’t matter if the team is 9-0 or 0-9 (they’re one of the top-ranked teams in Division 3). The board’s decision to postpone their actual decision until after the season is done is simply a way of saying, “Let’s see how far we can go and maybe a state title will help all of this go away quietly,” before scolding Phil Howard and letting him get on with offseason workouts.

I tried to make it through a semester without updating the Biz Blog, but it ate away at me. So in honor of my return, I’ve included three separate snippets from the news this week. As always, feel free to e-mail me at nowakjo2@msu.edu with feedback and ideas. Enjoy.

Big Mac’s back
And I thought the Indians hiring Manny Acta as the team’s next manager was the worst front office move of the week in baseball (with Don Mattingly and Bobby Valentine on the market who reportedly interviewed for the job).

But the Cardinals — in conjunction with bringing back manager Tony La Russa for another season — have announced Mark McGwire will be coming on as the team’s new hitting coach. What next? Announcing that Bernie Madoff has been hired as the team’s next financier? The team is making two major mistakes here.

One is obvious — they’re hiring one of the poster boys for the steroids era. McGwire was one of the first players to be exposed for using HGH and made a fool of himself in front of Congress. Great, now let’s let him guide the youth of the organization.

The second mistake — steroids aside — is McGwire was never a great pure hitter. Even when he was with the Athletics (likely still using ‘roids) he was a “bash brother,” known for hitting the ball a mile, along with teammate Jose Canseco (and we know how that turned out). Right now, the Cardinals’ best player and hitter, Albert Pujols, can hit the ball a mile but still has one of the most pure swings in baseball. If the Cardinals were going to be best served, they’d bring in someone who has a higher career batting average than McGwire’s, at a rock-solid .263. Pujols may as well just play first base and coach the hitters himself.

Pen in the company ink
We’ve had presidents, presidential candidates and national celebrity and talk show hosts riled in intra-office scandals in recent memory that have caused huge rifts in their marriage. Now, we have a former big league GM-turned ESPN broadcaster. Steve Phillips, a former New York Mets GM, was outed last week for an affair with 22-year-old production assistant Brooke Hundley.

He took a leave of absence, but it was reported Monday that Phillips has since been fired. Steve: You’re married, with a family and have a great job. You threw it all away. And she’s not that hot. Is Harold Reynolds available?

Hats off to the Mountaineers
It’s nice to see the West Virginia athletics department finally made a sound choice in terms of its coaching personnel. Bill Stewart, former Mountaineers head coach and current Michigan head coach Rich Rodriguez’s successor, was at the forefront of a resounding statement in West Virginia’s weekend home game against Connecticut.

The Huskies, playing in their first game since cornerback Jasper Howard was stabbed to death, received a loud standing ovation from the Mountaineers home crowd. Many in the stands held signs and banners in remembrance of the 20-year-old who was killed shortly after UConn’s homecoming victory the week before.

But the strongest showing of support was Stewart’s idea. After both teams and the entire stadium honored Howard with a moment of silence, the two teams — not just the captains — met at midfield to exchange hugs, high-fives and handshakes. It was an emotional scene (West Virginia ended up winning a close game) that was as sportsmanlike as it gets.

As a part of its academic reform program, the NCAA recognized the MSU men’s basketball and baseball teams for their top academic performance this year.

The 2008-09 teams, coached by Tom Izzo (men’s basketball) and first-year coach Jake Boss Jr. (baseball), had an Academic Progress Report, or APR score in the top 10 percent of their respective sports.

According to an NCAA release, the APR score is based on real-time account of the team’s academic success each semester or quarter by tracking the academic progress of each student-athlete. It includes eligibility, retention and graduation.

Sophomores Tom Herzog and Mike Kebler, junior Isaiah Dahlman and fifth-year senior Idong Ibok received Academic All-Big Ten honors for this season’s men’s basketball campaign. Ibok earned an undergraduate degree in telecommunication, information studies and media and is pursuing his master’s in advertising.

Since 2000, 29 members of the MSU men’s basketball team have received their bachelor’s degrees and 58 of 66 players who have completed their eligibility since 1990 have earned their degree, a percent of 87.9.

Three of this year’s men’s basketball Final Four competitors — MSU, Villanova and national champion North Carolina — were honored in their respective sports.

“The vast majority of sports teams are performing very well academically and exceeding the 925 threshold for their APR scores,” said NCAA President Myles Brand of the 1,000-point APR scale in a release. “Nearly 800 of these teams are worthy of special attention, and I commend them for their excellence in academics and athletics.”

There are approximately 6,484 Division 1 teams and 767 of them — 11.9 percent — were recognized with Public Recognition Awards. Of 331 Division 1 colleges, 205 had at least one team placed on the list. Yale had the most teams recognized (28) and the Ivy Group had the most as a conference (144).

The entire number of teams receiving Public Recognition Awards listed by institution can be found here.

Three former MSU football players are biking 2,000 miles this spring to raise money for an orphanage and are using the MSU football Green and White Game on Saturday as a jump-off point.

John Shinsky, a former MSU defensive tackle, and his wife, Cindy, hope to open an orphanage in Matamoros, Mexico, just across the border from Brownsville, Texas. They have raised $800,000 toward the effort, but hope to raise $500,000 more through the bike-riding event.

Shinsky will be joined on the journey by two former teammates — Eljay Bowron and Joe DeLamielleure.

Bowron, born and raised in Detroit, came to MSU out of Detroit Denby High to play offensive lineman for the Spartans. After graduation, he became a member of the Secret Service, where he protected Pope John Paul II and Ronald Reagan, among others. He served as director of the Secret Service from 1993-97.

DeLamielleure played offensive guard at MSU and was a two-time All-Big Ten player and All-American as a senior. He went on to be a first-round draft pick of the Buffalo Bills in 1973 and was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2003.

Shinsky was an MSU team captain and has served as a teacher and assistant principal in the Lansing School District. In 2000, he became an associate professor at Grand Valley State.

The planned facility in Matamoros is expected to cover 33,000 square feet and consist of 12 buildings. According to its Web site, it will provide a home, food, safety, love, education and bilingual and vocational training for hundreds of children who are abandoned physically, sexually and emotionally.

Check back throughout the week to statenews.com for updates on this event and the Green and White Game on Saturday.

For more information on the former football players, their cause and their journey, click here.

Peter Secchia has his eye on his next project. And when that happens, it usually means good things for the state of Michigan and/or MSU.

Fresh off watching the Spartans play in the NCAA title game at Ford Field in Detroit, Secchia is looking to bring an NCAA Tournament regional to Grand Rapids for the 2011 men’s NCAA Tournament.

Secchia, whose name adorns MSU’s newest medical school facility in downtown Grand Rapids, is an MSU alum, former ambassador to Italy and East Grand Rapids native.

He is hoping for a regional tournament to take place at Van Andel Arena in downtown Grand Rapids, where the MSU men’s basketball team has played exhibition games before. It’s currently used for large concerts, events (Barack Obama spoke there last May) and is the home of the Grand Rapids Griffins (Detroit Red Wings affiliate) and the Grand Rapids Rampage arena football team. It has also been host to multiple NCAA Hockey regional tournaments, hosted by Western Michigan.

Right now, Secchia told the Grand Rapids Press two obstacles stand in the way of the tournament coming to West Michigan — seating and team hosting. To host, a facility must be able to hold at least 12,000 fans. Van Andel’s seating capacity is listed at 10,834, but can hold more than 13,000 for concerts.

The site would also need a Division 1 host school. If MSU is that host, the Spartans would not be able to play at the location and the regional tournament would lose a huge part of its draw. If a school such as Central Michigan or Western Michigan were to host, the Spartans would be able to play close to home, thousands of fans would flood to Grand Rapids and that host school would benefit from the exposure.

The West Michigan Sports Commission is backing on Secchia on this endeavor and he says the NCAA is listening. There are a few kinks to work out, but it could be another great event for West Michigan and the Spartans.

Grand Rapids is arguably the best place to be in the state to start a business, find a job, go to school or raise a family. I grew up in a suburb of Grand Rapids and have been to countless events downtown and in Van Andel Arena. I was also in Detroit for the Final Four this weekend and, having experienced both locales on numerous occasions, there’s no doubt in my mind that this is something that would be a victory for all parties involved.

Sometimes adversity brings out the best in people. And sometimes it brings out the foolishness.

For 23-year-old Kyle Maynard, it’s done both.

The University of Georgia wrestler, who was born with deformed arms and legs, has a tremendous story of overcoming life’s obstacles and really epitomizes never taking “no” for an answer.

Many of us can’t fathom life without a limb (I know I can’t), let alone two or three or four. And the thought of competing at the Division 1 level in a sport is even more incredible. But my problem with what Maynard has done is it seems he’s taking this a bit too far.

Surely having been told he was incapable for much of his life, Maynard earned a 35-16 record in wrestling as a high school senior and received an ESPY for best athlete with a disability. As well he should.

But recently, Maynard has been granted an amateur license in Alabama to fight in mixed martial arts, or MMA. His first bout is scheduled for April 25. Like I said, my hat goes off to Maynard and everything he’s accomplished but taking this next step is not safe.

It’s one thing to wrestle without arms or legs, but MMA fighting consists of much more. How is he expected — or, rather, how does he expect — to defend himself against punches, kicks and strongholds from men who are literally two or three times his size?

And think about being that fighter he comes up against the first time he steps into the ring. It’s Maynard’s first fight, you’re an up-and-coming fighter who wants to make something of yourself just as much as the next guy and it turns into a media frenzy just because of the luck of the draw. Nobody wins.

I applaud you, Kyle. What you’ve done is an inspirational story that many can learn from. But I implore you: Quit while you’re ahead.