The Big Bad NCAA Is At It Again...

Some of you may heard Delaware is considering legalizing sports wagering. New governor Jack Markell and the state legislature are formulating a plan to have a bill passed by the end of the year. According to this Philadelphia Daily News article, the Delaware plan for sports wagering will not allow for single bets. All bets will have to be part of multiple bet parlays.

It should come as no surprise to anyone the NCAA wants to have a say in this. The Sports Network reported in March the NCAA is threatening to prohibit the University of Delware, Delaware State and Wesley College from hosting any NCAA playoff games if the state legalizes sports betting. This is another case of the NCAA attempting to throw its weight around in small states and markets, much as it did when started its effort to get the University of North Dakota to end its use of the Fighting Sioux nickname (while large schools such as Florida State go largely unscathed). Generally, the NCAA's effort against sports betting will only effect the University of Delaware, which has hosted 14 Division I-AA playoff games over the years. It has been a given in I-AA football that if Delaware gets a playoff bid, the school will host at least one playoff game because the Blue Hens consistently are among the leaders in attendance in Division I-AA (I still refuse to call it the Football Championship Subdivision). So, it'll be interesting to see how this plays out. Personally, as a JMU alumnus and season ticket holder, Delaware being prohibited from hosting playoff games would make me quite happy. But, I'd still think the reasoning behind it is asinine.

Major Eats in the Minor Leagues and Other Tidbits From the Lower Levels of Baseball

The Western Michigan Whitecaps minor league baseball team has jumped into the world challenge eating. You know what challenge eating is, right? It's where the customer buys an enormous sized meal and if the customer finishes it in one sitting, he/she gets a prize and/or the meal is free. The Whitecaps entry into the market comes via the Fifth Third Burger, a burger which consists of five one-third lb. burger patties and several toppings that include a cup of chili and Fritos. The entire burger weighs upwards of four lbs. and contain 4800 calories. If the purchaser finishes the $20 burger in one sitting, he/she gets a t-shirt. This recent story in The Grand Rapid Press details the story behind the burger and contains a video on the making of the burger. Of course, the reader comments attached to the story are exactly what you would expect....they are along the lines of "it's no wonder Americans are fat" or "I can't wait to have one". The best comment I saw on the burger was on a different website. It was simply "what, no bacon?". By the way, the Fifth Third Burger shares its name with the sponsor of the Whitecaps' ballpark, Fifth Third Bank.

To give equal time to healthier eating at the ballpark, here is a story MinorLeagueBaseball.com ran back in November on the vegetarian menu at Merchantsauto.com Stadium, home of the New Hampshire Fisher Cats. PETA has named the stadium the Most Vegetarian-Friendly Ballpark in Minor League Baseball. Oh yeah, that wasn't People Eating Tasting Animals who gave the award.

I recently found this interview with former James Madison University stand out baseball player Kellen Kulbacki on the Project Prospect website. Kulbacki talks about how his game improved last season after he was promoted from low A to high A ball within the Padres farm system. Kulbacki hit 20 HRs in 304 at bats after being promoted. Presently, Baseball America has Kulbacki ranked as the fourth best prospect in the Padres system.

In 2001, MinorLeagueBaseball.com published this list of the 100 best minor league teams of all time. It's interesting to see how many Baltimore Orioles teams from the 1910s and 1920s are on the list. Seeing most of us weren't around during those glory days of the minor league Orioles, check out a couple of the more recent teams on the list. I liked the piece on the 1992 Columbus Clippers because I had seen several players from that team, including J.T. Snow and Brad Ausmus, play for the Prince William Canons in the years just prior to 1992.

And finally, I found it funny the West Virginia Power is taking an online poll asking fans which West Virginia celebrity fans would most like to see on a bobblehead doll. The choices are Senator Robert Byrd, Jennifer Garner, Jerry West, Randy Moss and the Dancing Outlaw himself, Jesco White. Anyone who knows me, knows my vote is for good ol' Jesco.

Why are the Eagles in the Playoffs and the Redskins Sitting at Home? Two Word Answer...Akeem Jordan

It seems every year about this time, the Washington Redskins are either in some sort of turmoil or they are already looking forward to spending large amounts lot of money on flashy free agents in the coming spring, or both. I've heard the comment multiple times on sports talk radio that the Redskins win the free agent championship every March, but they never win a football championship on the field in the fall. And, except for an occasional limp into the playoffs, that fact has been true since Dan Snyder purchased the team.

There's no need to recount the many free agent signings and bad trade busts the Redskins have made during the Snyder regime. (Plus, I don't have the time to write a blog entry the supposed length of the Redskins 200,000 person season ticket waiting list.) But, it easy to assess the Redskins' basic problem, especially in comparison to the teams that are competitive on a year to year basis. Teams like the Steelers, the Patriots and, yes, the Philadelphia Eagles.

These organizations continue to build the core of their team through player scouting, the draft and player development. Then, these teams use an occasional big name signing to help them take the final step toward a deep run in the playoffs (e.g. the Patriots signing of Randy Moss). While the Redskins continue wallow away in the glitz of free agent signings, trading away mid round draft picks for busts, and drafting flash over substance in the early rounds of the draft (two WRs in the 2008 draft), teams such as the Eagles are scouting colleges at every leval and in every area of the country and signing players like Akeem Jordan.

The Philadelphia Eagles signed LB Akeem Jordan in the days following the 2007 NFL Draft as undrafted free agent rookie out of James Madison. Jordan made the Eagles' roster at the end of training camp, but days later was cut by the team and then signed to their practice squad. Jordan remained on the Eagles' practice squad for the the first half of the 2007 season, earning the practice squad salary of $5000 per week.

When the Eagles' linebacking corps was decimiated by injuries in the second half of the 2007 season, Jordan was promoted to the active roster. He immediately exceled on special teams and, because of even more Eagles injuries, he was starting at outside linebacker by the final game of the season.

Jordan made the the Eagles' 2008 roster as the Eagles' fourth linebacker and as a speacial teams standout. During mid-season, Eagles coach And Reid and Defensive Coordinator Jim Johnson decided to shake things up in their defense and benched starter Omar Gaither in favor of the quicker Akeem Jordan. Jordan has started since then and should start Sunday as the Eagles take on the Cardinals for the NFC Championship.

Now, obvisously one linebacker from a Division I-AA school, making the league minimum salary, is not the reason the Eagles have a top three defense this year and are competitive most every year. But, when you team Jordan with two mid round draft picks at the other linebacker spots, you begin to see a trend. The Eagles also start Chris Gocong and Stewart Bradley at linebacker. Gocong and Bradley were both 3rd round draft picks in 2006. Bradley was drafted out of Nebraska, while Gocong came from Caly Poly-SLO, of all places.

On the surface, when and where a player comes from may all seem irrelevant. But, when you dig into the financial and salary cap aspects of it, it's an entirely different ball game. The 2008 base salaries for the Eagles starting LB corp are:

Stewart Bradley $370,000
Chris Gocong $445,000
Akeem Jordan $370,000

The total you ask? As Big Enos Burdette once said in Smokey and the Bandit, "chicken sh*t money" of $1,185,000.

Meanwhile, Dan Snyder, who thinks himself to be the Big Enos Burdette of the NFL (I guess that makes Vinny Cerrato Little Enos), is paying the Redskins' linebackers base salaries of:

Marcus Washington $4,4250,000
London FLetcher $1,240,000
Rocky McIntosh $445,000

Those total base salaries of $6,110,00, bought the Redskins one certified bad a** (Flectcher), one nice guy who is on his last leg...literally (Washington), and a young player who was benched mid game during a loss to the Bengals (McIntosh).

The comparison of the two teams linebacking corps is even more shocking where the rubber meets the road, the salary cap. The Eagles trio of LBs comes in at:

Stewert Bradley $541,000
Chris Gocong $644,630
Akeem Jordan $1,476,360

Even with Jordan receiving other bonuses, which are not signing bonuses, the Eagles cap number is $2,661,990.

Out at Redskins Park, Big and Little Enos Burdette had to work out the salary cap issues with a linebacking group who had these cap numbers:

Marcus Washington $6,445,416
London Fletcher $3,440,000
Rocky McIntosh $ 1,520,000

That's a not so chicken sh*t total of $11,405416, or over four times the salary cap charge the Eagles are taking for their three starting LBs.

So Redskins fans, feel free to brood over the reality that is the Snyder led Redskins as you watch Akeem Jordan from "little James Madison" (as John Madden used to say about Gary Clark) play in his first NFC championship game. And, try to forget the Eagles are playing in their fifth NFC championship game since 2001.